The Otago Daily Times has obtained a confidential letter sent to landowners in the Teviot Valley by Ken Smales, on behalf of the Clutha Pumped Hydro Consortium (CPHC).
The letter said Mr Smales had been engaged confidentially to find out if there was local landowner interest in a pumped hydro scheme now that the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) was no longer involved. CPHC was not expecting unanimous support, but if there was none it would drop the initiative.
Mr Smales confirmed he represented the consortium and it was a large project, but would not comment any further.
In 2020, the Labour government set up the NZ Battery Project, run by MBIE, to explore possible renewable energy storage solutions for when hydro lakes ran low for long periods. A pumped hydro scheme at Lake Onslow, above Millers Flat, was one of the options explored.
The idea was to pump water uphill during times of low power prices and store the water to be released in Lake Roxburgh when lake levels were low and electricity consumption high.
In December 2023, the National government stopped investigations into the project that was predicted by then to cost $16 billion.
Announcing the axing of the scheme, then energy minister Simeon Brown said on top of its $16b price tag, the Lake Onslow scheme would likely run into issues with consenting and would not be delivered for at least another decade.
Beaumont Station, owned by Richard and Abby Hore, would be one of the most affected properties if a pumped hydro scheme went ahead.
Mr Hore said he was open to considering a proposal from the consortium, but would not comment on whether he had been approached.
The previous government had wasted millions of dollars on its investigations and the Millers Flat community had been left upset by the way the project was conducted, he said.
His property was one of the biggest of six or eight properties affected by the proposed MBIE scheme.
"People walked all over our land and drilled holes. There was nothing for us, nothing for the valley."
Millers Flat needed a lift and new projects could provide that.
"There’s no cafe, no shop, the school [roll] is declining. The [Hawkeswood gold mine] has given it a boost."
Hopefully, the new fast-track legislation would help get any proposed project under way quickly, Mr Hore said.
According to the letter from the consortium, three of its four directors had chaired or been chief executives of public companies in New Zealand and all were experienced in energy. All but one were born in Otago and the fourth had spent a lot of their working life in the region.
They wanted to "deal well and generously" with landowners, offering them a shareholding in the enterprise if they wanted, the letter said.
