The proposed 25MW Stockton Plateau hydro project in the South Island is one step closer to construction.Hydro Developments (HDL), which won resource consents for the project in January, has reached an agreement with state-owned coal miner Solid Energy on
The proposed 25MW Stockton Plateau hydro project in the South Island is one step closer to construction.
Hydro Developments (HDL), which won resource consents for the project in January, has reached an agreement with state-owned coal miner Solid Energy on water usage in the area.
Solid Energy, concerned the scheme would impact its Stockton coal mining operations, had lodged an appeal against the scheme - but will now abandon the appeal and provide HDL with the land access it needs to go ahead.
In return, HDL has agreed not to oppose any consent applications for water diversions that Solid Energy may require for mine operations.
Both sides have expressed relief that the stand-off has come to an end.
“It’s been a somewhat convoluted route to what is an equitable and good-spirited outcome,” HDL director Ant Black said in a release today.
After HDL’s scheme was announced, Solid Energy unsuccessfully sought resource consent for an alternative hydro scheme using the same water.
It will continue to appeal against the decision not to grant resource consent.
But the two companies have agreed that HDL’s resource consents will trump any additional consents granted for the Solid Energy scheme.
NBR understands that this is no blow to Solid Energy, which has little interest in entering the hydro electricity business and had only proposed the scheme as an alternative to the HDL proposal.
The Stockton mine is Solid Energy’s most productive and profitable operation and contains sufficient resources to warrant another 20 years of mining.
The company spent or committed $249 million to the Stockton mine in the year to 30 June 2010.
