At least one of the four proposed dams for the Clutha River is expected to be identified as Contact Energy's preferred option early next year but those involved in the public consultation are not ruling out a fresh option yet to be debated.
The power company is about halfway through its consultation process on revisiting the previously shelved hydro-electric projects for Queensberry, Luggate, Beaumont and Tuapeka Mouth.
Project manager Neil Gillespie yesterday said no clear front-runner had yet been identified but he expected at least one of the four projects would become the chosen option and there was even a chance one that was "a variation" of the others could leapfrog the list.
Contact had identified "early 2010" as when it would announce the option it was pushing ahead with but Mr Gillespie said a firmer date could not yet be confirmed.
He was pleased with the initial public response, both through a Contact web-based forum and through other forms of correspondence.
Despite the often negative connotations of dams, there seemed to be a mixture of views, both positive and negative, he said.
"They [the four options] are all quite different dams and there are quite different effects with each of them. The views that are coming through are a mix of strongly in support and strongly opposed."
After several months of listening to feedback, Mr Gillespie is preparing to meet interested groups which have been identified as stakeholders.
These include district councils, Department of Conservation officials and residents who would be affected by proposals.
Contact was also updating itself on new engineering details for the four options as all of the plans were developed more than 20 years ago.
