The Mokihinui Hydro was a proposed hydroelectric dam and power station planned for conservation land on the Mōkihinui River on the West Coast of New Zealand. The project by

Meridian Energy Meridian Energy Limited is a New Zealand electricity generator and retailer. The company generates the largest proportion of New Zealand's electricity, generating 35 percent of the country's electricity in the year ending December 2014, and i ...

was expected to cost $300 million. In April 2010, resource consents to dam the Mōkihinui River were granted to Meridian. In May 2010 the Department of Conservation lodged an appeal with the

Environment Court The Environment Court of New Zealand () is a specialist court for plans, resource consents and Natural environment, environmental issues. It mainly deals with issues arising under the Resource Management Act 1991, Resource Management Act, meani ...

. On 22 May 2012 Meridian Energy cancelled the project, withdrawing it from the Environment Court. The project was withdrawn due to high costs and environmental concerns and the project's risks and uncertainties.

Description

The power station was expected to generate up to a year, or 14 percent more than the annual electricity consumption of the entire West Coast region (). It would also provide much needed electricity generation to the Upper South Island, as local generation is well short of local demand and most of the electricity has to be transmitted from the Waitaki Valley, over away. The dam was proposed to be high and the resulting long lake would have covered of native forest.

Consultation

In 2007, Meridian Energy Limited consulted affected parties about its proposal to place a hydro-electric dam on the Mōhikinui River. The dam would have been located upstream from Seddonville, between it and the Mōkihinui River Forks. Meridian Energy began investigating the proposal in 2006, following from similar studies conducted by the

New Zealand Ministry of Works The New Zealand Ministry of Works and Development, formerly the Department of Public Works and often referred to as the Public Works Department or PWD, was founded in 1871 and disestablished and sold off in 1988. The Ministry had its own Cabi ...

in the 1960s and 1970s. On 15 March 2008, the West Coast Regional Council called for public submissions on Meridian's applications for resource consents.

Forest and Bird Forest & Bird (), also known by its formal name as the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand, is an environmental organisation specialising in the protection and conservation biology, conservation of New Zealand's indigenous F ...

opposed the dam and accused Meridian of not making public a report from

Landcare Research Landcare may refer to: * Australian Landcare Council, a former Australian government body, superseded by the National Landcare Advisory Committee * Landcare Australia, an Australian community not-for-profit organisation, involving local volunteers ...

that advised that the hydro scheme would cause significant adverse environmental effects.

Recreational use after construction

Meridian Energy stated that there would be recreational benefits with the lake formed by the proposed dam. Boat ramps would be provided for access onto the new lake. A local trust planned and built a 85 km walking and mountain biking track, called the Old Ghost Road, pushed through to Lyell, following a historic gold miners' route. This would have been impossible with the river being dammed.

Opposition

Opposition to the proposal had been expressed by a number of conservation, recreational, environmental and fishing organisations including: *Buller Conservation Group *Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of NZ * Department of Conservation *Federated Mountain Clubs *

Fish and Game New Zealand Fish & Game New Zealand is the collective brand name of 12 regional fish and game councils and the New Zealand Fish and Game Council which administer sports fishing and gamebird resources in New Zealand (apart from within the Taupo Fishing Distric ...

* Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand *

Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand (), commonly known as Green or the Greens, is a Green politics, green List of political parties in New Zealand, political party in New Zealand. Like many green parties around the world, it has four pillar ...

*NZ Federation of Freshwater anglers *

New Zealand Historic Places Trust Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage bui ...

*NZ Rafting Association *NZ Recreational Canoeing Association *West Coast Environmental Network *West Coast Tai Poutini Conservation Board *West Coast Waitbaiter's Association *World Wildlife Fund NZ The opposition was due to number of reasons: the river and the of forest that would be inundated has high intrinsic natural values, it is regarded as a scenic river, and it has valued recreational use for

whitewater Whitewater forms in the context of rapids, in particular, when a river's Stream gradient, gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that foam, froths, making t ...

activities and tramping. In April 2010, the Department of Conservation stated that it had lodged an appeal with the Environment Court of the decision to grant the resource consents to Meridian Energy.

Description

Consultation

Recreational use after construction

Opposition

See also

References

External links