Ministers push back next call on Lake Onslow power scheme until the new year

Monday, 12 December 2022

The Cabinet won’t consider whether to progress the multibillion-dollar Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme until after New Year, a spokesperson for Energy Minister Megan Woods says.

The Government had been scheduled to decide this month whether to press ahead with a detailed business case for the power scheme, which officials believe has the potential to reduce the risk of future power shortages and make the wholesale price of electricity more stable.

David Darby, energy projects manager at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), said the NZ Battery Project’s feasibility studies, which include the results of initial investigations into the viability of the Lake Onslow scheme, would now be considered by ministers early in the new year.

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The delay was not expected to materially impact the work programme, he said.

The Government allocated $30 million to the initial business case for Lake Onslow, much of that to geological and engineering studies, and expects to spend an additional $70m on the next phase, assuming ministers decide to progress that work.

In its last material update in July, MBIE said Cabinet had confirmed that a pumped hydro scheme at Lake Onslow “appears technically feasible at this stage”, but said more work was needed to confirm that.

MBIE said then that more work was required to “incorporate environmental, cultural, social and geotechnical findings” and refine the potential design options.

Waikato University associate professor Earl Bardsley, who first identified the pumped hydro potential of Lake Onslow, said it was a pity for those impacted that the uncertainty would extend a bit longer into January “for some level of decision”.