Solid Energy accused of roadblocking rival

Solid Energy has applied for consent for a West Coast hydro project that it says will be cheaper and better designed than another scheme planned for the same location.

Hydro Developments (HD) was given resource consent to construct a $200 million scheme on the Stockton Plateau north of Westport, producing 240 gigawatt hours of electricity annually.

It is waiting for Solid Energy to allow it to use an access road so it can build the project near the Stockton opencast coalmine.

Solid Energy will appeal to the Environment Court over its concerns about the project.

HD project manager John Easther said the company was frustrated that access had not been granted.

He hoped Solid Energy "would put their effort into responding to a request which has been on their table since July 2008".

Solid Energy chief operating officer Barry Bragg said he believed the state-owned enterprise's design for a hydro project producing 176GWh a year could be built for $70m less than the HD scheme.

Solid Energy's scheme would use water from the plateau affected by pollution from mining – collected in three reservoirs, treated and transferred to a power station at the coal-handling facility at Ngakawau before being discharged into the Ngakawau River.

Bragg said that if the HD scheme went ahead it could limit the mine's development.

"We have got a lot invested in mining on the plateau and there are 500-plus jobs up there. First and foremost, we need to protect that," he said.

Bragg said that if HD could convince Solid Energy its project was viable, "I'd expect our appeal could be settled".

Easther said HD's activities were downstream from the Stockton operation and could not affect it. If Solid Energy did not grant access, it could apply to build its own road to the site.

"While this makes our life frustrating, it doesn't stop the project," he said. "The only message we have [for Solid Energy] is focus on the perfectly reasonable request we have put in front of you."

- © Fairfax NZ News