It is located at the Fonterra dairy factory, at Te Rapa near Hamilton in New Zealand, and was commissioned in 1999.

The original capacity applied for under the Resource Management Act was 150 MW, but there was opposition from Greenpeace about the carbon dioxide emissions and Tainui about pollution of the Waikato River; Subsequently the planned capacity was reduced to 45 MW and the change was announced at an Environment Court prehearing.

The Waikato Times reported that “Greenpeace was pleased [with the change] but said even the smaller plant would pump out 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide”.

[4] The plant is based on a gas turbine (a GE frame 6B) that can produce up to 44 MW of electricity.

Mike Fuge, the CEO of Contact Energy said that "The gap in generation created by the closure of Te Rapa next year will be replaced by new, renewable generation that is set to come on stream over the coming years,"[2][6][7]