Contact Energy has
signalled delays in its plans for further hydro development
on the Clutha River, saying the project is on the "back
burner" and other developments have greater priority.
In 2009, Contact announced it was revisiting plans for dams
on the upper and lower Clutha, at Tuapeka Mouth, Queensberry,
Luggate and Beaumont, costing between $300 million and $1.5
billion. The schemes had been proposed by Contact's
predecessor, the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand, more
than 20 years ago.
Contact chief executive Dennis Barnes was reported this week
as saying the Clutha hydro project was on the "back burner".
He was unavailable for comment yesterday, but Contact
spokeswoman Janet Carson said geothermal energy remained the
priority development area for Contact.
However, it continued to investigate wind, hydro and
gas-fired developments. Contact was still assessing the four
Clutha hydro development options and they "remained open".
"Our conversations, data assessments and research undertaken
to date are showing that pursuing further hydro development
is more likely to be further down the track, probably into
the next decade, and we are considering the implications of
that."
She declined to elaborate.
The Clutha hydro project was on the "back burner", as opposed
to "priority developments" under construction such as the Te
Mihi power station, near the Wairakei geothermal power
station, northwest of Taupo, Ms Carson said.
There had been no "change of priority" by the company towards
hydro development. She declined to comment on how much
Contact had spent so far developing the Clutha project.
The Clutha River Forum, an alliance of river and conservation
groups opposed to "think-big" hydro development on the
Clutha, was set up in 2009. It launched a "Option 5 - no more
dams" campaign.
Asked for comment about delays to the hydro project, forum
co-ordinator Lewis Verduyn, of Wanaka, said the world was
changing rapidly "and these former business-as-usual projects
are simply not realistic".
"We've always considered further `think-big' dams on the
Clutha to be inappropriate, outdated and uneconomic. Now,
Contact is facing a landslide of economic and environmental
issues that were largely unforeseen just a few years ago.
"With electricity demand falling, the high cost of servicing
capital and record low flows in the Clutha River, it's
difficult to imagine how these plans could ever be viable in
the future," he said.
Contact's stance on the project comes in the wake of the
decision last month by Meridian Energy to shelve its plans
for a $2 billion wind farm on the Lammermoor Range. Meridian
chief executive Mark Binns said shelving the Project Hayes
wind farm was "a prudent commercial decision", as the company
had other higher-priority projects.
Asked at that time if the decision had any impact on the
Clutha hydro plans, Contact hydro projects manager Neil
Gillespie said the hydro plans were at a different stage from
those of Meridian's Project Hayes.
It had a consented project, while Contact had yet to narrow
down the options and was "quite some time away" from thinking
about resource consents.
lynda.van.kempen@odt.co.nz
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