Contact Energy is formally seeking, from today, public opinion on controversial old plans for four hydro-electric projects on the Clutha River, the largest of which could cost $1.5 billion to build.
The company insists it does not have a preferred option and will be using the feedback to help it make a decision next year.
Contact communications manager Jonathan Hill said the $1.5 billion option was the 350MW dam near Tuapeka Mouth but was not prepared to specify amounts for the other projects at Queensberry (160MW), Luggate (86MW) or Beaumont (185MW).
The costs for each project ranged from $300 million to $1.5 billion and were rough estimates.
He could not give "anything meaningful" in terms of individual dam costs.
The Tuapeka Mouth option has a greater capacity than the Roxburgh dam (320MW), but smaller than the Clyde dam (432MW).
As well as being the most expensive of the four options, it would also have the most dramatic impact, creating a 3400ha lake in the Clutha valley which would extend about 50km to the Millers Flat area.
The launch today of the project website will let people view information about the proposals and post comments.
They can also participate in discussion online.
The address is:www.contactenergy.co.nz/clutha.
Meetings could also be held.
The company said last August it was revisiting previously-shelved plans for the dams.
Clutha Mata-Au River chairman Lewis Verduyn, who earlier this year described the plans as unacceptable and unsustainable, suggesting Contact was underestimating opposition, said yesterday the environmental group dedicated to preserving the Clutha corridor ecology would consider information on the website before commenting further.
It is expected the feedback process will take the rest of this year and, if the company decides to proceed, a preferred option was expected to be selected next year for in-depth consultation.
Resource consent was expected to take up to a further three years, construction four or five years, depending on what was selected, and it could be 2020 or 2025 before there was a working dam.
