Waitakere City Council wants to delay a power station proposed for neighbouring Rodney until it's clear how citizens will be affected by beefed-up gas fuel pipelines and overhead electricity lines.
In evidence tabled at a commissioners' hearing of resource consents and planning instruments for the station, near Helensville,the council said approval would create the need for works affecting its city.
The effects of cross-city works to bring in fuel and take out electricity had not been assessed, said council sustainable management adviser Kyle Balderston.
Potential works included significant upgrades to the Transpower national grid and duplication of the Vector high-pressure gas pipeline.
At present, Transpower 220,000-volt lines bring power from Otahuhu through Auckland and Waitakere cities to supply Rodney and Northland.
Vector's northern pipeline crosses Waitakere on its way from the Taranaki gas fields to Marsden Pt.
Mr Balderston said the council wanted to know the effects on the city of a major project like duplicating the underground pipeline and upgrading compressor stations.
The hearing was told on Friday by Jim Truesdale, of Concept energy consultancy, that the Genesis power station would be fuelled with gas supplied from Vector's high-pressure northern pipeline, which passes 30km to the east of the site.
The station would inject electricity into Transpower's 220,000-volt Huapai-Marsden transmission line, which is to the west of the site.
But Mr Truesdale said the station could contribute to supporting power needs anywhere in the North Island.
He said a Rodney station's contribution to the region's problem of security of supply could provide a basis to delay the need for Transpower's investment in grid capacity, such as duplicating the $520 million cross-harbour cable to carry power from Penrose to Albany.
