The Lake Onslow pumped storage project which the Luxon government killed in 2023 may be back on the cards. A consortium led by former Meridian CEO Dr. Keith Turner has had the project accepted for the fast-track process.

Remember the scary costs which were bandied about before National canned the project? Turner says the MBIE estimated costs ballooned because they included items such as life-time operation costs and life-time financing costs.

"The costings have been pretty widely represented in the public arena as sort of $15b-$17b, but those numbers are not correct. If you go to the MBIE project files, the capital cost of the project is somewhere between $8.5b and $10b, depending on how big a bottom pond you have. Those $15b to $17b numbers were not the capital cost at all."

https://archive.ph/GQcbF#selection-1391.4-1391.138

#LakeOnslow #PumpedHydro #NZ

Let us see how this pans out.
As Winston Churchill famously said once.
“Never, never, never give up.”

#LakeOnslow
#battery
#pumpedhydro
#electricity
#NZPol

Group to lodge fast track consent bid for axed Lake Onslow hydro project https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/576852/group-to-lodge-fast-track-consent-bid-for-axed-lake-onslow-hydro-project

Is there life left in the Lake Onslow project? While Luxon's lot kiboshed the scheme, a private consortium is sniffing about and seeking investor interest.

The property owner, Richard Hore of Beaumont Station, says "Hopefully, the new fast-track legislation would help get any proposed project under way quickly."

Fast track... the developer's magic salve for those pesky environmental concerns.

https://archive.ph/NOtdK

#NZPol #LakeOnslow #PumpedHydro

Once up a time, Lake Onslow was called Dismal Swamp. In 1890 they dammed the Teviot River which feeds it and built a dam. In 1982 a new dam raised the water level by another 5m.

The government is continuing down the path of pumped hydro despite its estimated $16b price tag.

Is it a good idea? Are there workable alternatives? Because $16b would buy a lot of wind & solar, reducing the overall load on the grid.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300831569/government-to-take-lake-onslow-power-project-forward-despite-16b-price-tag

#LakeOnslow #Onslow #PumpedHydro #Hydro