Draft offers glimpse of pylon alternatives

As Waikato landowners prepare for news about which route Transpower has picked for its pylon upgrade plan, Electricity Commissioner Roy Hemmingway has taken one of the first steps in the hunt for viable alternatives.

Landowners will be told this Saturday which of two routes Transpower has selected for the 400kV link between Whakamaru and Otahuhu. It hopes to have the new line in service by 2010, but has run into fierce opposition.

Some landowners have threatened to blow up the pylons and Transpower chief executive Ralph Craven has had personal death threats.

Early this year the Herald examined the impact of the lines in a major series, Battle Lines.

Attention has now turned to the relatively new office of the Electricity Commissioner, who has to decide by the middle of next year whether to approve or decline the $500 million transmission project.

Yesterday he published a "draft" that outlines information to be used in putting together robust alternatives to the new powerline.

Mr Hemmingway said the document was a critical first step in the process of considering Transpower's grid upgrade plan.

"It lays out a wide range of information about the electricity system for stakeholders, including Transpower, to allow them to better prepare grid upgrade plans, in Transpower's case, and alternatives to transmission, in the case of others."

He said it also contained important information about the current state of the electricity system and expected future demand.

And it set out five potential generation scenarios against which the Transpower plans and any suggested alternatives needed to be tested.

These are: gas thermal (power stations fired with natural gas), coal thermal, large hydro, renewables and finally, low demand.

Although each of these scenarios is intended to be a plausible view of the future, none should be taken as the commission's view as what was "most likely".

The commission expects New Zealand's electricity demand to increase by 48 per cent in the next 20 years. Demand in the Auckland region is tipped to grow by just under 80 per cent.

There is every likelihood that Mr Hemmingway will - after considering the alternatives - simply endorse the Transpower plan or delay it.

Alternatives include building new power stations close to Auckland, cutting electricity demand at peak times, or putting the line underground.

But new power stations near Auckland need fuel, so a major natural gas find would be most likely to keep the pylon plan from proceeding.

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