Contact Energy is formally seeking, from today, public
opinion on controversial old plans for four hydro-electric
projects on the Clutha River, the largest of which could cost
$1.5 billion to build.
The company insists it does not have a preferred option and
will be using the feedback to help it make a decision next
year.
Contact communications manager Jonathan Hill said the $1.5
billion option was the 350MW dam near Tuapeka Mouth but was
not prepared to specify amounts for the other projects at
Queensberry (160MW), Luggate (86MW) or Beaumont (185MW).
The costs for each project ranged from $300 million to $1.5
billion and were rough estimates.
He could not give "anything meaningful" in terms of
individual dam costs.
The Tuapeka Mouth option has a greater capacity than the
Roxburgh dam (320MW), but smaller than the Clyde dam (432MW).
As well as being the most expensive of the four options, it
would also have the most dramatic impact, creating a 3400ha
lake in the Clutha valley which would extend about 50km to
the Millers Flat area.
The launch today of the project website will let people view
information about the proposals and post comments.
They can also participate in discussion online.
The address is:www.contactenergy.co.nz/clutha.
Meetings could also be held.
The company said last August it was revisiting
previously-shelved plans for the dams.
Clutha Mata-Au River chairman Lewis Verduyn, who earlier this
year described the plans as unacceptable and unsustainable,
suggesting Contact was underestimating opposition, said
yesterday the environmental group dedicated to preserving the
Clutha corridor ecology would consider information on the
website before commenting further.
It is expected the feedback process will take the rest of
this year and, if the company decides to proceed, a preferred
option was expected to be selected next year for in-depth
consultation.
Resource consent was expected to take up to a further three
years, construction four or five years, depending on what was
selected, and it could be 2020 or 2025 before there was a
working dam.
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