Landowners vow to keep up battle with Transpower

Transpower faces opposition to its new plan to build pylons into Auckland. File picture / Kenny Rodger

National grid operator Transpower has come up with a new plan to build a controversial line of pylons into Auckland, but still faces strong opposition from landowners in its path.

In a move designed to win the Electricity Commission's favour, Transpower has canned its much-maligned $600 million plan to build a 400kV line from Waikato to Auckland.

Instead it wants to build the same line along the same route at a slower speed - deferring some costs and possibly nullifying the commission's opposition to the original plan.

Landowners in the path of the pylons yesterday rejected the new plan as "the same old proposal in disguise" and vowed to make sure it would not proceed.

"We will fight this every way we can to the absolute bitter end," said Putaruru lifestyle block owner Dave Rennie who, with his wife Helen, are among hundreds affected by the plan.

Transpower yesterday acknowledged that its altered proposal would not be welcome news for landowners on the 186km route.

"But it does mean that we're not looking to find a new route and we're not going to be impacting on a whole lot of new landowners with a new proposal," said spokesman Chris Roberts.

Transpower has been subjected to a barrage of criticism since it put forward its original plan to build pylons between Whakamaru and Otahuhu to upgrade Auckland's energy supply.

The Electricity Commission, which investigates proposals from an economic viewpoint, rejected the national grid operator's original plan in a draft decision.

It said an investment of $140 million in the existing network would delay the need for the 400kV line at least until 2017, and that delay would save the country as much as $250 million.

Transpower said its altered proposal involved a line being built on the same route that would be capable of operating at 400kV but would initially operate at 220kV. The voltage would later, probably around 2020, lift to 400kV.

The use of a lower voltage for several years defers the need to install expensive substation equipment.

Transpower noted that the commission's test for proposals "places a high value on the deferral of expenditure".

Commission chairman Roy Hemmingway said yesterday that he was not surprised by the new proposal because he had heard the speculation. He could not talk about whether it might win approval because he had not yet seen the details.

The movement in the standoff between the commission and Transpower was welcomed yesterday by the Government, which had threatened to step into the wrangle if it was not resolved.

A spokeswoman for Energy Minister David Parker said he viewed the developments as "sensible".

But even if the new proposal does pass the commission's test, landowners in the path of the pylons have vowed to block it at the Resource Management Act consent process.

"We always figured we might lose the Electricity Commission process ... but we were definitely going to win the RMA process," said Bob McQueen, vice-chairman of New Era Energy, a group opposed to the pylon plan.

What happens next?

* Transpower hopes to submit its altered proposal to the Electricity Commission by next month.

* If the commission gives it the green light then Resource Management Act consents could take two more years.

* Transpower would then build a 186km overhead line along its original route by 2012.