A full fast-track application for a massive pumped hydro scheme at Lake Onslow will be made before the end of this year, the community board has heard.  

At the Teviot Valley community board’s October meeting, chairman Mark Jessop read an update from the Clutha Pumped Hydro Consortium Limited.

The report said the company was preparing its full fast-track application, which would include completing additional summer ground-based and river flow studies. 

The scheme goes back to 2020, when the government proposed expanding Lake Onslow to investigate long‑duration renewable energy storage for dry years.

In 2023, the newly elected national government cut funding to the project, citing research that put the estimated cost of the project at $17 billion. 

In September the consortium told the board three new shareholders had been brought on including Warehouse founder Sir Stephen Tindall.

The shareholders would fund the project.

During the September meeting, one of the project’s leaders Ken Smales said by using innovative engineering to create building tunnels and powerhouses, they could deliver it for about $8b.

A full application was expected to be lodged before Christmas, with a decision potentially made in early 2027, the report said.