Kerre Woodham: Power to the people

Let's get one thing clear. If Transpower decided to plonk one of their 70m pylons in my backyard, I would be out protesting and effigy-burning as the good folk of South Waikato were doing last week. I can't imagine anyone choosing to have one of these monstrosities on their property, and the feeling of being powerless in the face of Transpower's masterplan must exacerbate the sense of grievance.

Most of the people in the townships where these pylons are intended to go, fail to see why they should suffer, materially and emotionally, for the good of Auckland. The sentiment from the rest of the country seems to be that if Aucklanders want surety of supply, then they should build a bloody great power station in their own backyard, rather than erecting an army of pylons to trample across the country transporting power for their own hedonistic pleasure and gratification.

Transpower insists that the option of underground cabling is technically unreliable and simply too expensive. The affected residents reject that out of hand, and say Transpower has yet to investigate all the options available to them.

The issue of New Zealand's electrical supply and demand is one that has come up every year that I've been on talkback radio and always generates a great deal of heat. My relationship with Energy Minister Pete Hodgson is one of the longest I've ever had given that he appears every winter to explain why electrical supply is threatened and what the Government is going to do to fix the problem. The upgrading of the national grid has to be done, and the need to find alternative power sources is becoming desperate. As the population grows, the demand for electricity has become voracious and power sources like the Kapuni gas field are reaching the end of their natural lives.

While I agree that wastefulness is bad, and we should certainly switch off any appliances we aren't using, conservation and energy saving is not the only answer. We should do that as a matter of course, but that's not going to be the long-term solution. One option that's being presented as the answer, on talkback anyway, is nuclear power.

I'm surprised at the numbers of people who are advocating it. It's not new - the idea of a nuclear station has been around since the 1950s; I believe it was first suggested that a nuclear power plant be built in the Coromandel. The anti-nuclear movement of the 70s and New Zealand's self-conscious stance at the top of the no-nukes totem in the 80s put paid to any chat of nuclear anythings for quite some time but now, needs must, it appears, and it's surely a measure of our desperation that the nuclear option is on the table and being discussed.

For those responsible for the supply and maintenance of electricity, it's a lose-lose situation whichever way you look at it. The power source ultimately adopted by the Government will have its detractors. Whatever it is, it will have to be placed somewhere and then the NIMBY factor will kick in. And in the meantime, like mutant babies, we'll be yowling for more power NOW.

It's at times like these that I really do feel sorry for politicians and if they manage to come up with a long-term solution to New Zealand's electricity needs, then they will have surely earned their money.


- HERALD ON SUNDAY