The station on the Teviot River, 3.5km east of Roxburgh, should be producing power by the end of next month or early October, Pioneer Generation's asset manager, Peter Mulvihill, said yesterday.
It will generate a maximum of 1.9MW, enough power for about 500 homes, and provide electricity for homes in Roxburgh and Alexandra.
The station's pipeline and penstock runs from the Marslin Dam 1.5km upstream, and follows the route of the existing pipeline that supplies water to the Michelle Power Station from the Marslin Dam.
"It's a fairly challenging building site and some of the rock excavation has taken longer than expected.
"The penstock slope is a very steep face - about 48 degrees, so it's been slow-going," Mr Mulvihill said.
Because access to the site was limited, helicopters had been used to pour concrete for the final major construction work on the project, the supporting structures for the the pipeline up the hill.
"We've used helicopters in steeper country in the past and that's the easiest way to do it."
The next stage will be the electrical connections.
The new scheme was named after the kowhai trees in the area and construction began last September.
The first power had been expected to be generated at the end of last month.
It makes use of water which would otherwise be spilled from the Marslin Dam.
Some of the water will also be used for irrigation purposes.
Pioneer owns and operates 12 power stations throughout Central Otago and Southland.
The Kowhai will be company's sixth on the Teviot River.
The others, with the maximum generation output, are: Ellis (7.8MW), Horseshoe Bend (4.3MW), Michelle (1.6MW), George (1MW) and Teviot Bridge (1.1MW)
