Clutha power not needed — article

Press, 11 January 1978, Page 3

Clutha power not needed — article

| PA Hamilton | Power produced by the controversial Clutha hydro scheme is not needed, and could not be used, according to the Auckland-based Environmental Defence Society’s latest newsletter. Ms Jeanette Fitzsimons, a society member, makes the

assertions in an article “Clutha scheme F — one side of the balance is empty.” She says that the proposed 4670GWh output could not be used. Electricity Department officials admitted at hearings of the Royal Commission on Nuclear Power that the country had “an embarrassing excess generating capacity of 30 per cent during the 1976 winter peak.” The 1977 peak was even lower, leaving a greater margin, the article says. Another 2000 MW would soon be available from the Huntly coal-fired station and hydro projects under construction. “In fact, it is difficult to see how the proposed output of 4670GWh from scheme F —more than the total South

(Island consumption in 197677, excluding Comalco — [could be absorbed into the [grid,” the article says. i “The Cook Strait cable is ! already carrying its maximum load for up to half the time. No plan has been announced to duplicate the cable.” Population growth hadl slowed, and in the last five years most of the growth had been in the North Island. “Only major industrialisation of the South Island resulting in a radical transformation of the New Zealand way Of life, could hope to use so much power. “The New Zealand public has not been told of any such plans.” The Clutha scheme would not save the country oil. There were no thermal power stations in the South Island and the power could only be brought north by another cable with large! transmission losses. Power planners did not envisage a decrease in thermal electricity generation when the Clutha project was working. In fact, by 1992 it was planned that in a dry

year more power would come from fossil fuels than was generated from all sources at present. “Clearly Clutha’s role is to facilitate the enormous expansion of our over-all electricity supply without any consideration of who I will use it or how,” the ‘article says.

In its determination to push scheme F as fast as possible and at all costs, the Government had: — Applied for a water right before there was any sign of an environmental impact report, let alone its audit; Set bulldozers to work before obtaining a water right, and: Disregarded the advice of the Nature Conservation Council and the Environmental Council, feelings of local residents, and strong recommendations of the Commission for the Environment against the earlier, ■smaller, scheme H. Meanwhile the Environmental Defence Society had engaged legal counsel in the South Island to appear on behalf of groups opposing scheme F at appeal-board hearings this year.