Who we are
Mighty River Power is a New Zealand based integrated energy company, with a flexible portfolio of electricity generation assets, a strong national retail presence and a focus on domestic generation and international geothermal development opportunities. More than 90% of our generation is from renewable sources. We supply both electricity and thermal energy to major commercial users and have more than 400,000 retail customers with our brands, Mercury Energy, BOSCO Connect and Tiny Mighty Power.
Mighty River Power is a world leader in geothermal energy development, construction and operation – leveraging this expertise with investment in geothermal energy development in the US, Chile and Germany through GeoGlobal Energy.
Formed in April 1999 from some of the assets of the former Electricity Corporation of New Zealand, Mighty River Power has driven shareholder value through sustained strategic growth – from our beginnings as a hydro generator to a diversified energy business today with assets of more than NZ$4 billion. Much of our domestic geothermal growth has been in partnership with Maori Land Trusts, such as the 140MW Nga Awa Purua plant commissioned in 2010 – a joint venture with the Tauhara North No.2 Trust.
Our generation portfolio is unique in New Zealand, being the only large renewable-dominated company in which geothermal is a major component. Mighty River Power’s generation assets are located in the upper North Island, close to the major energy load centres and play a vital role in responding to demand peaks and supporting security of supply. They include nine hydro stations on the Waikato River (1040MW), four geothermal plants (387MW, not all 100% owned), and a gas-fired co-generation plant (175MW).
Mighty River Power is actively pursuing future growth opportunities in geothermal generation and wind farm developments to help meet future domestic energy demand. Our generation capacity will continue to be complemented by a nationally competitive and sustainable retail presence.
Why choose us?
Mighty River Power is a dynamic and commercially driven organisation with a strong record of financial success. All our employees are encouraged to use their initiative and to take pride in their work, which directly benefits New Zealanders as shareholders and electricity consumers.
We make sure that from day one our graduate engineers are given a real job with real opportunities. You will take part in a structured two-year training and development programme. We will provide you with an Engineering Training Taskbook, which has been developed by our senior engineers to prepare graduates for the challenges they will face as an engineer in the energy industry.
Mighty River Power is a large and diverse organisation. Here, you’ll never run out of opportunities and challenges. There is plenty of scope for movement between our different business units and geographic locations, with the opportunity to progress your career both horizontally and vertically. You may be placed in a team that supports the operation of our world-class hydro, geothermal or gas-fired power stations. You may be buying and selling wholesale electricity in our fast-paced trading room. Or you may be doing something completely different. We focus on giving our graduates exposure to projects and people throughout the organisation.
Support and networking
Naturally it’s not all work and no play! There are plenty of opportunities to socially network in the organisation, aside from work related projects. We organise networking events specifically for graduates, and staff throughout the organisation take part in a variety of internal and external events, sports and social functions.
Mighty River Power places a lot of emphasis on the work we do in the community and on our environmental initiatives. We encourage graduates to join ‘G-Force’, our employee environmental programme, where you can work with local communities, schools or internally to promote sustainability.
Our Graduate Programme
Power up your career with Mighty River Power.
Mighty River Power is in the midst of an exciting period of growth. We have led the way in geothermal development - working with our iwi partners on the largest geothermal development programme to take place in New Zealand in 20 years, as well as investing in geothermal opportunities offshore in Chile and the United States. We are committed to developing new wind generation, and we are rolling out smart metering technology that has the potential to transform both the retail and metering segments of the energy sector.
To succeed in our ambitious plans we need the best people. We look for people with the agility and the drive to carry our business forward, people with commercial nous who are eager to develop expertise in new and growing areas of the industry. People who will share our goal of helping to build New Zealand’s sustainable energy future.
Application information
Who should apply?
We are interested in hearing from anyone in the process of gaining the following qualifications:
• Degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Control and Instrumentation, Mechatronics, Chemical and Process)
• Degree in Earth Sciences (Geology, Reservoir Engineering)
Eligibility
Applicants must be legally eligible to work in New Zealand and be finishing their studies prior to the end of 2011. If you have a specific question check out our forum.
Farah Pollard
Qualifications: BE (Hons) in Electrical and Computer Engineering: Masters in Engineering Management , University of Canterbury
Current role: Farah has now completed the Graduate Engineering Programme and is now working as an Electrical Engineer at Mighty River Power’s Hamilton office.
“I was a summer student at Mighty River Power before I graduated and after seeing what the engineers did and the kind of people that work here, I decided it was the place for me.
“My first impressions of Mighty River Power were of the people. I found everyone to be friendly and helpful. I was given jobs with real responsibility straight away but there was also a lot of support in place for me, so I didn’t feel like I was thrown in the deep end.
“My current role has lot of variety. I do visual inspections and witness electrical tests on the generators; I work on business cases but I also do smaller tasks like cable sizing and calculating trip settings. I am based in Hamilton but I have had the chance to do a bit of travelling such as going down to Christchurch for a careers fair, to Taupo on various occasions for training and most recently to Kawerau to do a visual inspection on the generator.
“The thing I love about Mighty River Power is being able to go ‘down river’! I actually get to see the generators and to crawl around inside them – I’m not just stuck in an office. After doing four years of theory on electrical machines it’s amazing to be finally working with them.”
Kane Morison
Qualification: BE Mechanical (hons), University of Canterbury
Current role: Graduate Mechanical Engineer, Whakamaru Office
“The Mighty River Power graduate programme has a lot of choice, I can work as an engineer for the two years or I can choose to go to other teams in other parts of the business.
I spend a lot of time out of the office, visiting different stations, training and checking out equipment being repaired off site. There’s awesome flexibility.
“My colleagues here are great too; everyone is keen to teach you as much as they can. There are a lot of young people, but also plenty of experienced engineers who know a huge amount about the business and the industry. I felt from the beginning that Mighty River Power would be a great long-term employer because if you talk to anyone about Mighty River Power, they all love working here. “I’m really looking forward to being involved in a ‘class four’ –a complete overhaul of a generator and turbine. We’ll pull the whole thing out of the ground and repair and upgrade old or worn components. It’ll be an awesome chance to see how everything works.
“There are plenty of opportunities to socialise outside of work. We have a graduate networking night every three months and regular team days out. Socially there is always something happening here.”
