Anti-pylon group accuses Government of secret agenda

A lobby group set up to stop Transpower building 400kV pylons says the Government has an agenda that is compromising the security of Auckland's electricity supply.

Despite such accusations, Transpower is reiterating its intention to have the pylons up within five years.

The claims by Waikato farmer lobby group New Era Energy follow the Government's new direction that "paramount" consideration be given to maintaining a secure energy supply.

The group's deputy chairman, Bob McQueen, told the Herald he was unfazed by suggestions that construction of the pylons in the short term was firmly back on the agenda.

He did not expect the Electricity Commission to do a u-turn and did not accept that the Government now appeared to back Transpower's plans.

His view was that the Government had not necessarily signalled what technology was required to secure Auckland's supply.

"In other words, they haven't said specifically that it's 400kV versus HVDC or upgrading of existing lines, or whatever." High-voltage direct current cables can be buried.

However, he did voice concerns about what the Government appeared to be doing behind the scenes.

Most worrying was the talk of encouraging renewable energy sources such as wind or hydro power, which appeared to indicate those were better options than thermal.

There were four major proposals to build thermal stations - each producing up to 400MW - around Auckland, at Marsden, Otahuhu, Rodney and South Auckland, he said.

"What the Government seems to be signalling ... is that they're not as interested in new thermal generation and they want renewable generation."

That put Auckland's power supply at risk, as investors such as Genesis could be spooked by what the Government was now saying.

Mr McQueen linked the Government's comments to an agenda to align with Kyoto Protocol responsibilities. "I would say the Labour Government is putting Auckland's future security of electricity supply at the mercy of fulfilling their Kyoto obligations."

Transpower spokesman Chris Roberts said the Government had now made it "pretty clear that there needs to be a line in to Auckland built and that the commission has to work with Transpower to have that approved".

The grid operator's next proposal was a staged one, he said. That meant Transpower wanted to proceed with building the pylons, but they would initially carry only 220kV rather than 400kV. Construction would take place between 2009 and 2011. Asked if he thought that would be acceptable to Waikato farmers, Mr Roberts said, "No, but I think it will be acceptable to 1.5 million other New Zealanders."

New Era Energy chairman David Graham will meet Transpower executives tomorrow. He said the meeting had been initiated by the Prime Minister, after a letter he had written to her.

Mr Roberts said the meeting was for each side to brief the other on progress.

Meanwhile, a source told the Herald yesterday that Transpower had already appointed a Brisbane firm to vet tender applications for construction of the 400kV pylons.

Mr Roberts said Australian consultants had been employed to advise what the multimillion-dollar tender contracts should entail.

However, Transpower was nowhere near appointing a company to build the new pylon network.