The Dunedin company delivered the first thrust runner, which is attached to the generator shaft, carrying the combined weight of the complete generating unit's rotating components, for the Lake Benmore turbine refurbishment project earlier this year.
Farra chief executive John Whitaker said the delivery of the first "proof of concept" thrust runner was part of a three-year overall refurbishment contract at Benmore for Meridian.
It followed a similar three-and-a-half year refurbishment at Manapouri.
A second thrust runner had recently been completed.
"We believe Farra Machining is the first company in New Zealand to build a one-piece thrust runner of this scale," Mr Whitaker said.
Using a design provided by Meridian, the 2.4m-diameter thrust runner was cast at KiwiRail's Hillside Engineering plant and lathed and finished by Farra, to a tolerance of 0.05mm.
Mr Whitaker said the Benmore thrust runner was originally made in multiple pieces, but the complexity of the components and the tolerances involved in their manufacture resulted in some issues when it was used.
The thrust runner contract is worth more than $200,000.
Farra is scheduled to deliver one runner every six months.
