Contact to release Clutha hydro plans

Contact Energy will release its hydro plans for the Clutha River soon in a bid to gauge community support.

Contact hydro development manager Neil Gillespie said the company would release a discussion document based around four "historic options" for hydro dams on the upper and lower Clutha at Queensberry, Luggate, Tuapeka and Beaumont.

The discussion document would be available to the public in the "very near future", he said.

Contact's predecessor, the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand, had started looking at those sites and Contact was beginning the process of exploring if it could take the proposals further.

The company aimed to hold public meetings during the next 12 months to get as much feedback as possible before drawing up detailed proposals.

Contact met Otago mayors in December in the first step to gauge community support for future hydro plans for the Clutha River.

Central Otago Mayor Malcolm Macpherson, Queenstown Mayor Clive Geddes and Clutha District Mayor Juno Hayes were at the meeting.

Dr Macpherson said the company would have to reveal its plans sooner or later. "The community needs something it can sink its teeth into, so it is clear what Contact Energy is talking about," he said.

He did not think the document would reveal any surprises as the community was aware of potential sites since the "early days".

Once actual construction sites were made public the community could focus on those for open discussion, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News