Karioi power plans heat up

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 439, 9 June 1992, Page 1

Karioi power plans heat up

But recreation lake now unlikely

A power scheme using water from the Whangaehu River looks feasible, Karioi landowners were told last Tuesday. The landowners who are likely to be affected by the scheme were invited to a meeting at the Ohakune Hotel last Tuesday, to hear from King Country Energy staff. An application for resource consents for the scheme could be lodged with the Manawatu Wanganui Regional Council in six to nine months, providing there are no likely engineering problems. Officials at the meeting stressed that plans for the $100,000,000 scheme were at a very early stage with a large number of requirements, consents and approvals to be fulfilled before construction could be considered. The consent process is expected to take two to three years followed by a similar period for construction.

A company known as the Whangaehu Electric Power Company has been formed to facilitate the necessary early investigations which are to show whether the scheme is geologically and financially feasible. King Country Energy and Mid Western Powerco (Wanganui) have been identified as two of the potential shareholders for the project. King Country Energy general manager Peter Till said the landowner's response at the meeting seemed favourable. He said most wanted to go and consider the proposal further before committing themselves to it. An agreement regarding the scheme had been left with them, he said. No lake The Karioi power project is now unlikely to include a lake useful for recreation purposes. King Country Energy general manager

Peter Till said last Friday the scheme now relies on the Whangaehu water to make it economic. Engineers were now looking at two possible scenarios: diverting the Whangaehu water to the east along a canal and into a tunnel; diverting the water to the west. A lake is only possible in the second case. Mr Till said if there was a lake formed as part of the scheme it would use water from both the Tokiahuru Stream and the Whangaehu River, which would mean it was acidic and unsuitable for fishing and many other recreation uses. "A lake filled just from the Tokiahuru has proved to be marginally uneconomic," said Mr Till. He said it had originally been considered that the fresh water lake scheme may have been just financially viable. A further public meeting is to be held within the next few months, said Mr Till.