Montalto power station cost up $.7M

Press, 20 December 1978, Page 2

Montalto power station cost up $.7M

The estimated cost of ai planned power station on the Rangitata diversion race at Montalto has risen from, SIM to SI.7M, according to the Ashburton Power I Board’s engineer (Mr E. D.j Weir) yesterday. But the scheme was still i viable, he said, before the board approved an appli-' cation for $45,000 from the ‘ Government to cover the’ cost of detailed investigation ■ and preliminary design ■ work. A further $45,000 would be required for detail-1 ed design work, but if the Government approved the $90,000 and the scheme did not proceed, the money would not have to be repaid, Mr Weir said. In his report, he said the consultants had suggested gaining a greater head of water by spending $lOO,OOO on raising the upstream banks. It would improve efficiency from 2.07 cents per kilowatt hour to 1.92 c, and provide more energy. Most of the $700,000 increase came from increased I costs of machinery, such as the turbines, which had to | be bought overseas. The; schedule called for the; scheme to be running by the winter of 1981, Mr Weir i said. The economics could be, further enchanced if the! Hinds-Mayfield irrigation scheme w'as given its own! intake. That would make it possible to use almost all| the water flowing down the! diversion race. The Ministry of Works! and the Elecricity Depart-! ment both seemed to favour'

i the scheme and he saw little' difficulty in its gaining Gov-; ernment approval. The Gov-| ■ eminent guideline for assist-i iing schemes of this type! ' was 25 per KWh. The consultants had con-', , sidered several alternatives, jbut even the worst of them, 'showed that the scheme was! viable, said Mr Weir. As! ■ time passed, that viability 1 would be enhanced. It was technically feasibleand viable without having I i great impact on the environ-j . ment. The only major change since the original . scheme was announced was i I that the power house would , now be east of the race rather than on the western ' side. The board had written to 35 environmental organisa- : t : ons and received 11 replies. The landowner had no I objection, but he doubted i that a canoe club’s request Jfrr "wild water” could be . I met, Mr Weir said. 1 The Government was pre- ; pared to lend up to 90 per icent of construction costs, if lit approved a scheme, he 1 said. It could grant the 1845,000 for initial detailed ■j investigation and design • work plus the $45,000 for final planning and design. 1 After the board approved! an application for the initial $45,000, Mr Weir said he ex-1 pected a report could be ’prepared by March. ; The scheme aimed to pro-1 ducc about 7 per cent of the! | board’s power requirements. Ihe said. The statement in the original report that it could produce between 10 and 15 per cent was thought ■‘to have been a misprint.