Construction on Stage 1 of the New Zealand Clean Energy Centre facility is nearing completion, and tenants will begin occupying space in the Centre as of April 2011.

The facility, located in Taupo on a highly visible site on NZ's major highway, State Highway 1, will house a cluster of clean energy businesses, will demonstrate a wide range of clean energy technologies, and will serve as an event centre for seminars, workshops and conferences.

Taupo has impressive clean energy credentials. Lake Taupo is a massive volcanic lake which feeds the Waikato River on which there are nine hydro stations generating around 4000GWh of electricity annually. Taupo is also the heart of geothermal energy in New Zealand. Geothermal energy produces around 10% (and growing) of NZ's electricity and increasingly, innovative direct use applications of geothermal heat are being deployed. The region also has abundant plantation forests, the waste from which has substantial energy potential. It is for these reasons - along with the economic development potential of clean energy - that Central Government supported the establishment of the NZ Clean Energy Centre in Taupo. 

Centre tenants include companies from the biomass, geothermal and solar sectors, while technologies that will be demonstrated at the Centre include biomass, geothermal, solar, wind and hydro solutions.