A resource consent hearing will be held in Queenstown next week to determine whether Aurora Energy Ltd should be granted consent to upgrade part of the electricity line near Wanaka.
Aurora is seeking consent to upgrade part of the existing line, which is not within the road reserve, between the poles just southwest of the Orchard Rd-Riverbank Rd intersection and the substation on the Cardrona Valley Rd.
The upgrade would involve replacing all the existing poles so a three-line 33/66kV overbuild could be put in place.
In total, 191 poles would be replaced - 51 are located within the road reserve and 140 within privately owned land and land administered by Land Information New Zealand (Linz) and the Department of Conservation (Doc).
Lakes Environmental planner Robyn Johnston, who recommended consent be granted, said the existing poles were insufficient in diameter to support the upgrade, so the replacement poles would need to be slightly larger in diameter.
All replacement poles would also need to be higher.
"Replacement poles will be approximately 10m high from the original ground level, with an additional 0.5m insulator mounted on top of the poles.
The maximum diameter of the replacement poles will be between 0.3m to 0.4m and both wooden and concrete poles will be used," Ms Johnston said.
Delta Engineering Services manager Nigel Harwood said the immediate consequence of being refused resource consent would be to put future developments in Cardrona Valley at risk, as the existing electricity supply was "limited".
A generator was installed at the Cardrona zone substation site before last winter.
It ran for about 100 hours over winter at times of "peak loading" to provide voltage support.
Mr Harwood said while the generator had already deferred the need to establish a zone substation for two years, there was still a need to provide a "secure power supply" to cater for growth.
The most robust upgrade option was to use the existing line route, which was a set of three wires supplying 11kV.
"This would be upgraded to two sets of lines, with the upper set initially being operated at 33kV and later at 66kV and the lower set operating at 11kV.
"Another option would be to install a new and separate set of lines, insulated to 66kV, on a different route . . . this could be up the Cardrona Valley Rd."
The application was publicly notified on June 4 and attracted four submissions.
Linz and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust neither supported nor opposed the application.
C. and K. Powell and R. and A. Saunders, both resident at Mt Barker Rd, opposed the application for several reasons.
The resource consent hearing is being held before independent commissioners at the Crowne Plaza on Monday.
