GeoShot NZ

Pānui #3 - September 2026

Nau mai, haere mai

Welcome to the third edition of our pānui (newsletter). From a major funding milestone and project updates, to meeting the people helping bring GeoShot NZ to life, there's plenty happening – so drill a little deeper and explore the latest news from our project.

Message from the Rotokawa landowners

Kia mau ki te whenua, whakamahia te whenua, hei painga mo nga uri whakatipuranga.

Hold fast to our lands and make the best use of our lands for future generations.

View of Ngā Awa Pūrua and Rotokawa Power Stations. Image: Tauhara North No.2 Trust 

Tauhara North No.2 Trust is an Ahu Whenua Māori Land Trust and has ‘mana whenua’ over its traditional lands and resources. 

We manage our resources sustainably by being guided by the ancestral song of the whenua (land) and the call of place across generations – thus, inspiring and connecting whānau (family), whenua and whakapapa (lineage & history) through mātauranga Māori (Māori worldview).  Our tribal affiliation is to our iwi Ngāti Tahu Ngāti Whaoa, but we maintain our own autonomy.

Geothermal energy is much more than a resource – it is in our DNA. It is a taonga (treasure) handed down from our tūpuna (ancestors) and woven into our whakapapa, our identity, and way of life. Throughout our history, this taonga has nurtured the foundation of our cultural continuity, community connections and enduring relationship with place, that underpins our identity, health and wellbeing. Today, that connection remains steadfast, resolute and unapologetic.

As kaitiaki (guardians) of Rotokawa geothermal resource, we are grounded in the legacy of our tūpuna in honouring our obligations and responsibility to protecting our taonga, our whenua and the current and future opportunities for and on behalf of our people with purpose, integrity and trust.  With this in mind, we see this project as an opportunity to extend the mātauranga (traditional knowledge) of our taonga and enable pathways of opportunity for our rangatahi (youth) and whānau, while helping to shape a more sustainable energy future for Aotearoa.

Geoshot NZ brings together mātauranga Māori, science, industry, and international expertise to explore what may be possible from the next generation of geothermal energy.

For Tauhara North No.2 Trust, all development must be done sustainably and balance economic opportunity with environmental stewardship. We have wāhi tapu (sacred places) upon our land, which must remain respected and protected. In accordance with this and above all else, the health and wellbeing of our reservoir, our whenua, our whānau and whakapapa will always come first.

Through this project, we have confidence that GeoShot NZ will unlock other pathways of opportunity for our rangatahi and whānau, affording our people the chance to develop their mātauranga, alongside world-leading scientists, engineers and innovators. The knowledge gained through this mahi (work) will help build our capability and capacity, while creating new opportunities and inspiring our next generation of Māori leaders in science, technology, and energy.

We are honoured to connect with Indigenous communities around the world who, like us, share a deep relationship with their whānau, whakapapa, whenua and geothermal taonga. By learning from others and sharing our own mātauranga, we can help shape a future that:

• respects whānau, whakapapa and indigeneity,
• protects the environment and its resources, and
• creates economic and social opportunities for current and future ‘Mana Whenua’ generations.

In doing so, this will help strengthen the project, while ensuring Māori and Indigenous voices and contributions of whānau, whakapapa and whenua remain at the forefront of all conversations about the future of renewable energy.

Like all exploration, this project comes with challenges. But we remain pono (true) and unapologetic that our whānau, whakapapa and whenua remain the most important consideration to our decision-making.  As such, we remain guided by the footsteps of our tupuna, who have paved the way before us, stand with our whānau, as we continue to pave our way forward with purpose, and inspired by a promise of tomorrow, as we continue to weave pathways of lasting economic and social opportunities for our current and future generations, and the wider population of New Zealand.

Mauri tū, mauri ora,

Tauhara North No.2 Trust
Wikitoria Hepi Te Huia, Chair             Mana Newton, Chief Executive    

Project update

GeoShot NZ – our journey so far

GeoShot NZ continues to make strong progress as preparations move closer to the drilling phase. Over the past few months, the project is continuing detailed design and procurement planning, contracting, and project assurance activities. These are important steps that help ensure the programme is delivered safely, efficiently, and with the technical rigour required for a world-first superhot geothermal exploration well.

Building the team to deliver

A major milestone has been the selection of Todd Energy as the project's preferred lead contractor. Todd Energy brings extensive drilling and operational experience from New Zealand's energy sector and is now working alongside the wider project team to refine delivery plans, confirm responsibilities, and prepare for future drilling operations. At the same time, specialist contractors and technical advisors continue to support well engineering, geoscience, well testing, and safety planning.

Progress so far

So far, the project has:

• Progressed commercial negotiations and project agreements with key partners
• Completed an important technical assurance review and through the first tollgate
• Advanced planning for long-lead equipment procurement
• Continued detailed engineering and well design refinement
• Expanded engagement with iwi, landowners, industry and international partners
• Shared project updates through technical workshops, wānanga and Geothermal Week events

What's next

Over the next quarter, the focus will be on finalising commercial arrangements, ordering critical long-lead equipment, completing further engineering work, and continuing environmental, cultural and operational planning. These activities will help position GeoShot NZ for drilling preparations while continuing to build partnerships and knowledge-sharing both in New Zealand and internationally.

$55m government funding released for project

Wairakei Power Station. Image: MBIE

GeoShot NZ has reached another major milestone, with the New Zealand Government releasing the remaining $55 million in funding for the next phase. The project is now moving closer to drilling New Zealand’s first exploratory superhot geothermal well at Rotokawa.

Why Rotokawa and how was the site chosen?

Map of Rotokawa Geothermal Field showing proposed GeoShot NZ drill site at bottom centre. Image: Portia McKenzie

After reviewing geothermal fields across the Central North Island, Rotokawa Geothermal Field was selected as the location for New Zealand’s first superhot geothermal exploration well because it offers the strongest combination of scientific potential, existing knowledge, and operational feasibility.

The field is one of the hottest geothermal systems identified in New Zealand and has been extensively studied over many years, providing researchers with a wealth of geological, geophysical, and reservoir data.

Once Rotokawa was selected, nine potential drilling sites were assessed against a range of criteria, including geology, underground temperatures, resource consent requirements, protection of existing geothermal operations, environmental constraints, and drilling safety.

The preferred site within the field was ultimately chosen because it sits close to some of the hottest wells in the field and near a deep geophysical anomaly that may indicate access to the heat source driving the geothermal system. Importantly, the location can be explored while minimising interference with current geothermal operations.

GeoShot NZ turns up the heat at NZ Geothermal Week

Thanks to everyone who joined us at Turning Up the Heat: New Zealand’s Superhot Opportunity during New Zealand Geothermal Week in Taupō.

The event provided a fantastic opportunity to connect with industry representatives, researchers, partners and community members interested in the future of geothermal energy in Aotearoa. We enjoyed sharing updates on the GeoShot NZ programme, discussing emerging opportunities, and hearing valuable perspectives from attendees.

The GeoShot NZ panel event at Geothermal Week. L-R: Portia McKenzie (Kānoa), Wikitoria Hepi Te Huia (Chair, Tauhara North No.2 Trust – TN2T), Hon. Tim Groser (Chair, Governance Group), Robert Rankin (Mercury Energy), Dr Isabelle Chambefort (Earth Sciences NZ), Mana Newton (CE TN2T) with Professor Roland Horne, Chair of the International Review Panel, beaming in from Stanford University, California.

Superhot Rock Geothermal Summit

“Aotearoa New Zealand has mature regulation and policy for conventional geothermal, much of which is adaptable to superhot conditions.”

This was a key observation at the Clean Air Task Force’s Superhot Rock Geothermal Summit held in Banff, Canada ahead of the World Geothermal Congress in June.

New Zealand was represented by members of the GeoShot NZ team who noted that in many jurisdictions those frameworks simply don't exist yet, which makes an already difficult technical problem considerably more challenging.

But the outstanding result of the summit? GeoShot NZ is now tied directly into the emerging superhot workstreams globally.

Project director Robert Rankin speaks during a NZ presentation and panel discussion during the summit. L-R: Rebecca Pearce, Cascades Institute (CA), Kyosuke Okamoto, AIST (JP), Robert Rankin, Mercury (NZ), Tony Pink, Mazama Energy/Pink Granite (USA), Sigurður Markússon, Reykjavik Energy (IS). Photo credit: Paul Siratovich (Upflow).

From Stanford University to Rotokawa

Laura Blackstone at Nga Tamariki geothermal power station. Photo supplied.

We’re thrilled to welcome Laura Blackstone – a Stanford University post-doctoral researcher who has joined the GeoShot NZ team as an intern.

Laura is modelling possible heat and fluid transfer regimes in the region the GeoShot NZ project is targeting. Her work uses physics-based modelling to reduce or quantify uncertainty for situations the deep drilling project may encounter at depth.

The results of her modelling at the deep reservoir scale will complement larger scale model that spans from the deep magmatic heat source all the way to the surface, being developed by John Burnell at Earth Sciences New Zealand. 

Meet the team 

Dr Isabelle Chambefort of Earth Sciences New Zealand is GeoShot NZ's Lead Science Adviser. A geothermal geologist with more than 20 years' experience studying volcanic and geothermal systems around the world, Isabelle has spent the last 16 years helping advance geothermal science in Aotearoa New Zealand. Here she outlines why she fell in love with geology and why she believes GeoShot NZ is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

A lifelong curiosity 

I've always been fascinated by the natural world, particularly the parts of it that most people never see. As a child growing up in France, I wasn't interested in biology or animals as much as I was interested in understanding why mountains exist, why volcanoes erupt, and how the universe was formed. My dad was an engineer and a scientist, so there was always excitement around asking questions and trying to better understand the world.

I'm very fortunate to have built a career from something I've been passionate about since childhood. As a geologist, I've spent my career studying how heat, fluids and rocks interact deep underground. Understanding the Earth isn't just an intellectual exercise. It's about how we can better serve society by providing the resources and energy people need, while doing it sustainably.

Journey around the world…

My journey eventually brought me from France to New Zealand. After working in research roles around the world, the opportunity to work on active geothermal systems in the Taupō Volcanic Zone was impossible to refuse. For a geologist, it's a dream job. Sixteen years later, I'm still here, still asking questions, still discovering new things, and still not a New Zealand rugby supporter. I joke; they’re my backup if France loses.

What I love about geothermal is that it gives us a window into processes happening deep within the Earth. In mining geology, you often study systems that have long since cooled. In geothermal systems, the heat is still there. The fluids are still moving. The Earth is still actively at work. Even after all these years, it continues to fascinate me.

…and into its depths

That's why GeoShot NZ is so exciting. To me, this project is the most exciting thing happening in New Zealand science and technology, and arguably the most significant geothermal exploration effort here in at least 50 years. We are testing whether we can access much hotter resources than we've ever used before and unlock dramatically more energy from each well.

Of course, there are no guarantees. When you drill five kilometres into the Earth, there is always uncertainty. We've never been there before. But exploration is about pushing the boundaries of what we know.

If we're successful, the impact could be transformational. Superhot geothermal has the potential to provide large amounts of reliable, renewable energy and help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. New Zealand has a chance to be at the forefront of a global effort, and very few scientists get the opportunity to work on something that could make such a meaningful difference for future generations.

Explore ‘Geothermal: The Next Generation’

GeoShot NZ is delighted to join Earth Sciences New Zealand’s bespoke superhot geothermal website: Geothermal: The Next Generation.

Resources

Podcast

Watch our Governance Group chair Tim Groser’s interview from The Spinoff’s podcast At Large with Tony Manhire, published in August 2026. Think hot, think deep: The odds on a geothermal silver bullet for NZ’s energy future.

Events

48th New Zealand Geothermal Workshop

Faculty of Engineering and Design, University of Auckland | Auckland, New Zealand
18 - 20 November 2026

Superhot, High Risk, High Reward: What Role Should Government Play?

GeoShot NZ Project Lead Portia McKenzie will present this paper co-authored with members of the Governance Group.

Geoscience Society Conference

Te Ohomai Institute of Technology, Rotorua
30 November - 3 December 2026

GeoShot NZ Project Director Robert Rankin and Geology Lead Dr Isabelle Chambefort will deliver a plenary on the scientific challenges and opportunities, alongside the complex implementation to reality, of superhot geothermal.

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Catch up on our story so far:
Pānui #1, December 2025
Pānui #2, April 2026