Skip to main content

Story: Taranaki places

Pātea dam and Lake Rotorangi

Image
Pātea dam and Lake Rotorangi

In the early 1980s an 80-metre-high earth-fill dam was built on the Pātea River, east of Hāwera, to power a 30-megawatt electricity-generating station and form Lake Rotorangi. It began operating in 1984, and is now owned by the generating company Manawa Energy. Lake Rotorangi is the longest artificially made lake in New Zealand.

Using this item

GNS Science

Reference: 26322/12

Permission of GNS Science must be obtained before any use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Ron Lambert, Taranaki places – Pātea, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/25926/patea-dam-and-lake-rotorangi (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ron Lambert, published 23 February 2010, updated 1 September 2016.