The future of a new $900 million power scheme on the lower Waitaki River should be known this week.
Meridian Energy Ltd should have a decision from Environment Canterbury (ECan) in its hands this week on whether water has been granted for the proposed north bank tunnel concept power scheme it wants to build between the Waitaki dam and Stonewall, near Ikawai.
It applied to ECan to take up to 260 cumecs of water from Lake Waitaki into a 34km-long tunnel, with one powerhouse generating between 1100GWh and 1400GWh a year, enough electricity to supply 175,000 homes.
The application was heard by commissioners - former Environment Court judge Prof Peter Skelton (Christchurch), environmental consultant Mike Bowden (Kaiapoi) and freshwater scientist and ecologist Greg Ryder (Dunedin) - in Timaru in August and September last year, and resumed again for three days in Christchurch in August this year.
Prof Skelton indicated a decision would be due out by the end of last month and Meridian is expected to receive it this week.
The decision will also be notified to about 400 submitters on the scheme.
The water-only resource consent application is the first hurdle for the new scheme and, whatever the commissioners' decision, is likely to be appealed to the Environment Court.
The application did not comply with the Waitaki catchment water allocation plan because Meridian was seeking minimum flows of between 110 cumecs and 150 cumecs between the Waitaki dam and Stonewall, below the plan's minimum environmental flow of 150 cumecs.
If Meridian does get approval to take the water, it will still have to apply to the Waimate District Council for land use resource consents to build and operate the scheme.
The decision on the north bank tunnel water-only consent will indicate whether a new irrigation scheme proposed for the Waimate district has any chance of also getting water from the lower Waitaki River.
The joint Meridian Energy Ltd-South Canterbury Irrigation Trust Hunter Downs $150 million to $200 million irrigation scheme would irrigate up to 40,000ha in the Waimate district, but also seeks a lower minimum flow of 100 cumecs in the river.
A hearing on that application - also for the water only - was conducted by the same three commissioners in Timaru spread over October, November and December last year.
The scheme wanted to take up to 20.5 cumecs from the Waitaki River at Stonewall, Ikawai.
A decision on that application is not due out until next year.
