Lake Hawea figures largely in my life. My parents bought land there in the 1970s and a small group of Otago Tramping Club families had camping holidays there and eventually built holiday homes. My mother retired to ours in the 1990s and part of the loss of her death meant that I had to look for somewhere else to stay if I wanted to visit my second home.
I was told years ago about a proposal to generate hyro-electricity by using the difference in levels between Lakes Hawea and Wanaka by tunnelling through at The Neck, where the highway through to Haast and the West Coast crosses from the side of one lake to the other. The narrow width of The Neck (2km) and the difference in levels (65m) made the proposal an attractive one.
It was one of many tabled by the Minister of Works, the Hon. W. Hall-Jones, in the House of Representatives in 1904. New Zealand's hydro power had the potential to make the country "the manufacturing centre of the Pacific."
Utilisation of Water Power.— In my last Statement I alluded to the arrival in the colony of Mr L. M. Hancock, M.I.E.E. Mr Hancock spent eighty-two days in the colony, and was fully occupied in acquiring information during the whole of that time, and consequently had to defer the writing of his report until after his return to America. The report was received in due course, but as it seemed to require amendments in some respects, Mr Hancock was communicated with on the subject before submitting it to Parliament, so that any alterations found necessary therein might be duly made before publication. I expected to receive a reply by the mail which reached here on the 27th September, but as no communication came to hand it is probable Mr Hancock was away from San Francisco when my letter arrived there, and we shall therefore have to wait the arrival of his explanations. If Mr Hancock's reply to my letter is not received before the close of the session a copy of his report will be submitted to Parliament without awaiting his revisions. Mr Hancock's report does not, perhaps, go into details to the extent that some hon. members might desire, but it clearly shows that there are vast possibilities ahead of us in the matter of the utilisation of our enormous water powers, which are evidently amongst the colony's greatest natural resources. As a more detailed report seemed to be desirable so that the country might be apprised of the enormous energy only awaiting the application of intelligence and capital to turn it into a great source of national wealth, much further information has been collected since Mr Hancock's departure, and a further and more detailed report on the subject has been prepared by Mr P. S. Hay, M.A., M. Inst. C.E., the superintending engineer of the Public Works Department. Mr Hay accompanied Mr Hancock during his tour, and constantly conferred with him on the subject of our water powers, and has in addition given the subject much personal study. His report, which has now been placed in the hands of hon. members, contains a mass of information of great value, and will convince the most sceptical of the great future that is before this colony as the manufacturing centre of the Pacific. The power shown to be available is so enormous and can be developed at such a low cost per horse-power that manufactures and industries at present unthought-of in New Zealand must before long be established, and their products shipped hence to all parts of Australia and the Pacific coasts, as well as to more distant lands. So many great and potential sources of power lie ready to our hand that we are embarrassed by their number and variety. It therefore becomes a matter of difficulty to determine where to begin in the matter of their utilisation. Mr Hay shows that the scheme on which he has reported (and any others may, of course, be possible) would develop energy equal to 3,700,000 horse-power — about thirty times the amount of power now used in the colony for both tractive and industrial purposes, and considerably in excess of the total fixed steam power used in the United Kingdom up to 1888, the date of the latest industrial statistics available at the moment. The great bulk of this power is in the South Island, but there is sufficient available in the North Island to meet all present requirements and to provide for considerable future development. The expenditure involved in converting all this waste energy into useful industrial power would, as might be expected, run into millions. It is estimated that the cost of schemes sufficient to displace all the steam, gas, and other plants at present in use in the colony, as well as to provide for the running of all the railways electrically, would amount to about £12,000,000, The information so far obtained, however, though extensive and valuable, is by no means complete, and the reports presented, though able and interesting, are not by any means exhaustive. Much further inquiry yet remains to be made, and further attention will be devoted to the matter, with the view of definite proposals being submitted to Parliament. -Evening Star, 29/10/1904.
HAWEA.
This lake lies at an elevation of 161 it above Lake Wanaka, as ascertained by accurate levelling from trig stations to the water level of each lake; Hawea being at a height of 1083ft above sea level, and Wanaka at a height of 922ft. The distance between the lakes is 135 chains; but there is a lagoon of some size formed by detritus brought down by a creek flowing into Hawea, which reduces the distance to 100 chains. The lagoon is at a level of 8ft above the lake, and a channel could easily be cut to give free flow from the lake to the lagoon; though if the lake level were permanently raised by a dam as proposed below, not much, if any, dredging would be required.
The drainage area of the lake is 567 square miles, and the area of the lake is 45 square miles. The length of the Alps drained is about 14 miles. The flow measured in November last was 5700 cubic feet per second. The corresponding low-water flow, as deduced from probable low-water levels, would be about 3600 cubic feet per second, and the flow at high level about 9600 cubic feet per second.
I think the lake can be safely dammed to a height of 60ft, or perhaps a little more. The present outlet of the lake would be closed by a dam of sufficient height to prevent any chance of overflow. An overflow channel would be provided, if thought necessary, in a second and smaller dam that would be required over an old channel on the right bank of the river lying parallel to the present channel, and distant a few chains from it. The old channel has rock sides, is separated from the present channel by a ridge of rock, and is in every way suited for an overflow channel; and could, perhaps, be used to divert the river for forming the main dam during the construction of the latter. The lower end of the lake is bounded by a low moraine ridge with three old river channels through it at the level of the plain, which slopes from the outer edge of the ridge evenly towards the Clutha River. The average level of the upper end of the plain is about 80ft above the lake.
Taking 30ft for storage and 30ft for permanent rise in the lake level, the difference in level available would be 191 ft. The water level in Wanaka rises in extreme floods — such as in 1878 — about 12ft. When this happens there would be a corresponding rise in the Hawea Lake, or more, on account of the dam, as it is hardly possible for a flood of that height to obtain in Wanaka without a similar one in Hawea. It may therefore be taken that in extreme floods there would be no loss in power from a diminution in difference of levels, but there might be a small flood in Wanaka and no corresponding rise in Hawea. The best type of water-motors to meet the flood conditions would be turbines with vertical axes, filled with draught pipes sufficiently long — 15ft, more or less — so that they would work safely in all levels of Wanaka Lake; the generators being fixed on the vertical shafts of the turbines at a safe height above flood level. There would be wave action to provide for in high floods. The waves might be of some height, and flood a power-station with broken water and spray.
The total length of conduit required from the lagoon to Wanaka by the shortest route is 6600ft. Of this length about 500ft would be pipes, 1500ft canal at the Hawea end, and 4600ft tunnel. This would begin about the upper end of the swamp above the lagoon, and apparently be in solid schist rock for its whole length. For continuous work a tunnel 24ft to 25ft in diameter would be required, depending on grade, the smoothness of finish, etc., of the lining, and the probability of the smoothness remaining unimpaired. The pure water of the lake should have but little cutting action on the tunnel-lining, pipes, or working parts of turbines, though the creek whose detritus formed the lagoon would at times cause some grit to go through the tunnel.
The power obtainable should be about 90,000 b.h.p. for continuous working. The cost for hydraulic works, dams, sluices, tunnel, pipes, etc., would be about £460,000, and the cost, complete with transmission line to Dunedin, would be about £2,200,000. ($432,653.651 in 2022) For a scheme to give more power for a shorter period each day, say, 180,000 b.h.p. for 12 hours, the cost would be about £4,300.000. Assuming that 50,030 b.h.p. were delivered in factories, or for lighting, etc., to Dunedin and intermediate places, the gross revenue, at the tariff assumed for this report, would be £600.000 a year, if so much energy could be sold.
There is a very good site for a power station on the shore of Lake Wanaka, opposite the lagoon, in a slight indentation with some shallow water in front, though it would even there, no doubt, be exposed to effects of wave-action in heavy gales; but this is inevitable. This site is further up tbe lake than the point where the shortest line from the lagoon would cut the lakeshore. It will be a question whether the tunnel should not be made longer to enable the power-station to be located at this place.
The power-station would be distant about 170 miles from Dunedin by a transmission line following the road via Cromwell. Alexandra, Clutha Valley, Tuapeka, and Milton. Another route might be practicable over the Dunistan Mountains via Thompson's Pass and the route of the Otago Central railway. This would be about 140 miles long. By another route via Shag Valley the distance to Palmerston South would be about 110 miles and from this point the distance to Dunedin would be about 33 miles, and to Oamaru 37 miles, making the total distance to Dunedin and Oamaru, say, 148 miles each. Power would be taken from a line at many intermediate points, and no doubt some branch lines would be required. These have not been taken account of in the estimates given. Also there would be main lines following different routes with so much power to transmit.
Hawea is an excellent source of power. The only defect is the length of transmission-line required to reach the, at present, most populous districts. It has been found to be better in every respect than I anticipated in my first forecast to you of its value. The fall between the lakes is found to be greater by 27ft than is shown on the survey maps, and the quantity of water available is much greater than I thought it would be. The Clutha was gauged just below the junction of the Hawea River at the punt crossing. The observed flow was 23,540 cubic feet per second, but the river was in partial flood. The ordinary summer flow would be, as deduced from the summer level given, about 18,700 cubic feet per second, and the low-water flow about 9000 cubic feet per second. These actual results seem to be higher and lower than the corresponding results for Wakatipu. They are, however, only approximate. Higher results might be expected from the Wanaka because of the relatively great glacier area in the watershed. -Otago Witness, 16/11/1904.
OTAGO EXPANSION LEAGUE
ANNUAL MEETING. (excerpt)
The fifth annual meeting of the Otago Expansion League was held in the Town Hall last evening. Mr A. Bathgate presided, and there were about a dozen members present.
The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the report and balance sheet, congratulated members on the success attending last year's operations. They had been passing through strenuous times, and that had hampered their activities in many directions, but he thought the report disclosed that solid work had been done. Country branches had been increased during the year, but the executive had under consideration the desirability of still further increasing them. It was desirable that the interests of the league should be as widely spread as possible. Mr Bathgate went on to refer to the visit of Mr Colver, who had come here from the United States, and mentioned several little incidents in connection with his visit. This year they had had their usual meeting with members of the House, and had brought the requirements of Otago under their notice The question of land tenures in Otago had been first approached by Mr Hunt, who had delivered a lecture on the subject. That, however, came into next year's work, as well as the petition that had been presented to Parliament requesting that a commission be set up to inquire into the matter. He (the chairman) thought this was one of the most important questions raised in Dunedin for many years. No doubt the prosperity of Dunedin depended upon the prosperity of our back country, and it was only now that the people of Dunedin were beginning to wake up to the possibilities of Otago Central. It would make a great difference to Dunedin if there was double the population in Central Otago, where the population was steadily decreasing. If irrigation was provided by the Government and by the Cromwell Development Company, there would be much greater scope for fruit-growing and for pastoral pursuits. At the first meeting as to land tenures they had invited public bodies to send representatives, including the City Council. The invitation had been acknowledged by the council in the ordinary way, but it had not been represented, probably because the council thought it was outside its functions, although anything that would lead to settlement must be of great value to the city. The Country Development Committee had presented a very interesting report, and it referred to the great volume of water running to waste. That was a subject he hoped the committee would devote its attention to in the coming year, both in the direction of irrigation and the generation of electric power. A scheme for utilising water from Lake Hawea had been mentioned. It wag l00ft higher than Lake Wanaka, hence the value of the Clutha was very considerable. It was suggested that if that water was utilised to generate electricity it could be carried down the Molyneux Valley and used for fruit farms and in other ways. He ventured to suggest to the committee that it might take steps to bring that special scheme under the notice of the Government in the hope that, when anything could be done, there was a chance of it being done. It might be urged that the Government should, as a start, have a survey rnade, or a report prepared upon the scheme. He hoped the Country Development Committee would continue to urge the establishment of an experimental farm in the Central district, so that farmers would be instructed as to the right time to use water and the quantity to be used. -Otago Daily Times, 27/9/1917.
Hydro-Electric Power.
Speaking in the House of Representatives recently, Mr C. E. Statham referred to the question of hydroelectric power, and his remarks are of interest in that he referred specially to the possibilities of the Lake Hawea scheme. He said:
There is the question of hydroelectric power. We have some proposal in the Governor-General's speech, but them is nothing new about it. We had the Bill circulated last year. When we realise that Water Power Bill was passed in 1903 we have only got Lake Coleridge scheme going as a Government concern, we see that the Governments of the past, as well as the National Government, have been too slow in prosecuting the development of hydroelectric energy. This country has been endowed by Nature probably more richly than any other country in the world so far as water power is concerned, and I feel that the Government ought to take up the whole matter and bring in, as the honorable gentleman said, a comprehensive scheme, so that there would be absolutely no necessity for any Bill such as that which is now being brought before the House. In Otago, for example, at Lake Hawea and Wanaka I am informed that by the putting in of 100 chains of tunnel at the head works they could get 90,000 brake horse power of electricity. If this country is to go ahead and take its place amongst the nations of of the world we will need a Government in power that will see that the natural resources are properly developed. We are just on the the eve of a great industrial awakening, and we do not want to have the stigma that we have had to suffer from in the past — of sending our raw products to other parts of the world and buying them again in a manufactured form. There is no reason why the primary products that we produce in New Zealand should not be manufactured also in New Zealand, and the way in which that could be done is by the Government taking up the matter and seeing that we have our hydroelectric power properly developed. -Cromwell Argus, 25/11/1918.
Hydro-Electric Power.
HAWEA-WANAKA SCHEME
DEPUTATION TO MINISTER
As the result of a proposal emanating from the Cromwell Borough Council, a large and influential deputation, representative of local bodies throughout Otago, and supported by several M. P.s, waiTed on the Hon. W. Fraser, Minister of Public Works, in Dunedin on Monday, and urged the necessity of pushing on the Hawea-Wanaka hydroelectric scheme.
Mr C. K. Statham introduced the deputation.
Mr A. M. Brodrick (Mayor of Cromwell), was the first speaker. He said the advocacy of the Hawea scheme originated with the Cromwell Borough Council, which asked that the Government should proceed with the Hawea scheme immediately. A resolution was passed by the Cromwell Borough Council, and was supported by practically all the local bodies in Otago. The resolution was also forwarded to Sir William Fraser, who replied that he would consider the scheme in the next Estimates. Mr Brodrick said that briefly the scheme was to bring the water from Lake Hawea, which was 160 feet higher than Lake Wanaka, by means of a tunnel which would be less than a mile long, to Lake Wanaka, and there generate 90,000 h.p. The scheme, with other schemes, was reported on in 1904 by Mr P. S. Hay, the Government engineer for the Public Works Department. He summed up this scheme by stating that Hawea was an excellent source of supply. This scheme had also been reported on by Mr Parry, and he (Mr Brodrick) would ask the Minister if that report was yet available to the public, or when it would be available.
Sir William Fraser: I have Mr Parry's report here now.
Mr Brodrick said it was understood that the report was favourable. The scheme was undoubtedly an excellent and compact one, which it was certain would have to be embarked upon some day or another. Why not bring it in now? Mr Parry, in his report on the North Island schemes, stated that New Zealand had an opportunity of providing electrical power to every householder in the dominion. He thought that the Government should consider the advisability of giving electric power to the country, and opening the country up by power, in just the same way as it did in the matter of opening up the country by railway communication. The scheme would open up the whole of Otago. It would start in the heart of Otago, and be brought to Dunedin, and could branch on either side to take in Balclutha on the one side and Oamaru on the other side. Again, irrigation was the life-blood of Otago Central, and the scheme mentioned would irrigate from Hawea all the way down. Central Otago had the climate and the soil, and only irrigation was needed to make it prosperous. Moreover, it had been stated with authority that there were 125 different ways in which electricity could he applied on a farm; while, further, the mining industry would he revived and an impetus given to other industries. A comprehensive scheme was needed, and this was a comprehensive scheme, the cost of which would he reimbursed by increased production and the increased value of Crown lands.
Mr C. Todd, Expansion League, referred to the fertility of the soil, and the great result that would follow, given water on the arid plains.
Mr Ashworth (Alexandra Borough Council) said that the country population was flocking to the towns, and all that was needed to stop the movement and bring about closer settlement in the country was a scheme such as the deputation was urging. There was no questioning the fertility of the soil. In his own district two or three acres could produce between £200 and £300 in a year. They wanted to extend Dunedin right up the Molyneux Valley. With water power provided additional industries would be established. It was a question of national moment.
Mr Ritchie (chairman of the Vincent County Council) said there were hundreds of acres of alluvial deposit which could be profitably worked if the power were brought in. The same thing applies to the quartz mines. Again, irrigation would enable areas which now carried 1000 sheep to carry 100 families. The interests developed would more then pay the interest on the money required.
Other delegates who spoke in favor of the scheme were Messrs Lee, Scott, Walker, and Dickson, M.P.s, and Mr J. B. Waters, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce.
THE MINISTER'S REPLY.
Sir William Fraser, on rising to reply, was loudly applauded. He said he did not think there was anyone in the dominion who had a greater sense than he had of the vast importance of harnessing our various rivers and supplying electric power throughout New Zealand: therefore they could rest assured that in addressing him they were addressing someone who was sympathetic in the movement. — (Applause.) He knew the enormous advantage of electric power to the country, and so far as the towns were concerned manufacturers would also benefit. It was also going to reconcile the people to living in the country by getting power to light their homes. If anyone had any doubt about that he had only to visit the neighborhood of Christchurch and see what it had done there for the farmers. It has been a revelation to a great many people, and therefore, he thought, whatever Government was in power, it would find it a bounden duty to hasten the day when every part of the dominion was supplied with electric power. He agreed that they should not have to wait for other schemes to be gone on with before starting here; but they knew as well as he did that when the Bill was first brought down there were five schemes proposed for different places, it was deemed advisable to start in one place as an experiment, and the place decided upon was Christchurch. The parliamentary records showed that if it was a success at Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland were to be the next supplied. That was the decision of the Government — a Liberal Government — then in power, and it was endorsed by the Reform Government which followed. The present National Government had taken the same view. Mr Parry had made various surveys of the works required to be done, and had prepared plans of the schemes for both the Wellington and Auckland districts. He might tell them, in regard to those two schemes, Parliament had not yet decided anything. He got authority last year to spend £140,000 in preliminary expenditure in regard to those two schemes, but no scheme had been yet authorised. The question of starting these schemes had to again come before Parliament. Did they know what the total cost of these two schemes was going to be? To finish them it would cost something like four millions.
Mr Lee: A couple of months’ war debt.
The Minister: You know the loans raised for the war were raised voluntarily.
Mr Lee: Compulsorily.
The Minister: Yes, according to one’s means; but you try to pass a Bill to make it compulsory for a loan for public works, and see how you get on.
Mr Lee: You never know what might be done in the future.
The Minister: I grant that. Continuing, he said that if money were raised it would have to be raised in New Zealand. He believed himself that the money could be obtained, and if the people were properly approached it would pay well to do it. He believed it would pay any Government to go right into this thing, and to say that it was prepared to spend 10 or 12 millions. Nothing he knew of would pay a Government better. They only had to take Lake Coleridge as an example. He undertook to say that if the schemes were carried out properly they would yield something like 8 1/2 percent., but they must be run on business lines, otherwise they would be a failure. He did not think that the financial part of it should frighten them; but there was another matter to he considered, and that was, unless they got the labor they could not do it. To carry out the two schemes in question would require a good deal of labor. He did not think they ought to be delayed. The more men they put on the cheaper and the quicker the work could he done, and the lower the price at which they would he able to supply the people with power. Cheap power they must have. As to the Hawea scheme, it was not in the same state as the other two. There had been no proper survey made. The first survey was made by Mr Hay, but he never completed an absolute close survey in regard to distribution lines and so on, and Mr Hay was not able to do so. He had Mr Parry’s reports. The Hawea scheme did not consist simply of taking water from Lake Hawea into Lake Wanaka. The Hawea Lake would have to be raised somewhere about 30ft by damming the Hawea River, so that it was no light undertaking. He was afraid that £464,000, as mentioned by Mr Brodrick, would not look at it. To include transmission lines it would certainly cost one million and a-half, and if it was done for that amount it would pay to do it. There was another matter, and that was the transmission lines would have to go down by two routes — one by Roxburgh and the other by the Maniototo Plains. They would have at least 100 miles of transmission lines to put up. The lower part would go through a fairly settled district, and they could sell a very large amount of power around there. But, he said, if it cost two millions, it would pay to do it. That was no reason why it should not be done. He wished to tell them, however, that the scheme must be thoroughly planned and surveyed, and the whole cost and estimates made out before Parliament would dream of starting it. He wanted to get the plans and specifications out, and so far as he had power he was going to endeavor to get that done, so that the present chief electrical engineer and his staff could complete the work that Mr Parry had begun. Unfortunately, they had now lost the services of Mr Parry. He believed Cabinet as a whole was as enthusiastic as he was in regard to hydro-electric schemes, and he hoped to be able to get a sum of money put on the Estimates to cover the cost of the survey of the Hawea scheme. If the money and labour were available he would say go on with all the schemes. He had had a lot of abuse from Hawke’s Bay because he had not started the Waikaremoana scheme. This was an easy scheme to get power from, but it was no use for Auckland as a general source of supply, because the country the transmission line would have to traverse was so rough and broken that it would cost as much to make the road as to get the transmission line. He hoped the Otago people would be reasonable, and not abuse him because be could not say he would urge Parliament to sanction the Hawea line, without sufficient data in his possession to justify that. The data ought to be made available, and that he intended to do. Once those data were obtained, and proved satisfactory, there was no reason why the work should not proceed if the labour and the money were available; and if they could not get the men to carry out the works more men would have to be provided. The Government had not had the man-power in this country for works during the past five years. He was told on all sides that there would be thousands of men available soon, but he did not think the man power of the country had increased in the past four years. When all the men were back it would be found that such was the case. The number of men who died during the war or been maimed quite equalled the number of those who in the meantime had passed from youth to manhood, and when all soldiers were back New Zealand would be fortunate if she had as many available as before the war. The number available for public works before the war never exceeded 5000, and at present he had only 3000. If we were going on with works of this kind we should have to got more men into this country. The dominion was languishing for want of population, and until more men were provided no amount of money could get the work done. -Cromwell Argus, 16/6/1919.
POWER FOR OTAGO CENTRAL
THE MINISTER’S INSPECTION.
A QUESTION OF COST.
RAILWAY CLAIMS PRESSED.
[From our own reporter.] PEMBROKE, February 8, Yesterday the hon. J. G. Coates and the Ministerial party, accompanied by a representative of the Expansion League, made a visit of inspection to the proposed site at Hawea-Wanaka of the hydroelectric scheme. Leaving Clyde in the morning, the party proceeded along the bank of the river to Cromwell, and passed through very fine country to Hawea Flat, where a brief visit was paid to the foot of the lake, at which point it is proposed (as part of the scheme) that the Hawea River be dammed as it leaves the lake, in order to conserve the water supply. From Hawea the journey was coptinned to Pembroke, and a trip made by launch up Lake Wanaka to the site of the proposed tunnel from Lake Hawea to Wanaka. The Minister and members of the party were rowed ashore in a dinghy, and walked over a strip of land about a mile and a-half wide, through which the connection is proposed to be made from Hawea to Wanaka, which is 167 ft below the level of the other lake.
With his own observations and the expert advice of his engineers, the Minister will probably now be able to come to a more satisfactory conclusion for all concerned. The proposed site for the tunnel and power station is about twenty-five miles from Pembroke.
In the evening the Minister attended a public meeting at Pembroke, Mr James Ritchie (president of the Upper Clutha branch of the Expansion League) presided, and said that 64,000 acres in the valley were capable of being irrigated. The settlers wanted cheap power, and considered it could best be supplied by the Hawea-Wanaka scheme. Another speaker urged the continuation ot the railway from Cromwell to Hawea Flat.
The Minister, in reply, said that during the first few days he had examined several schemes in connection with irrigation. The greater portion of' 374,000 acres was irrigible by gravitation. To-day the cost of irrigation schemes ran into a quarter of a million, and commitments for the future made a good deal more. He was of opinion that the immediate future ot Central Otago rested principally on how much irrigation could be carried out. In the irrigated portion of Ida Valley he had seen clover and lucerne, but what struck him more than anything else was the condition of the stock. In connection with hydro-electric power it was all a question ot cost. Electricity generated from one place was no different from that got in another. The most important thing was to get the power from the cheapest, possible source. With one tunnel they would get 32,000 horse-power from Hawea-Wanaka. The question was how much power they could get rid of. There were other schemes, and there was a difference of £1 per horse-power as against Hawea-Wanaka.
In regard to the railway, Mr Coates said that at present only extremely urgent work was being done, and he did not think this line could be done just now. However, when an officer was available he would have a survey made and a report prepared. -Evening Star, 8/2/1921.
The waters of Lake Hawea were universally agreed to have the most potential in the country. So why were they not harnessed as the first of many power stations in a modern New Zealand? It seems that it was too big and too soon. Smaller schemes which were closer to consumers were more affordable, especially in the absence of a commitment from central government to make the investment. Another factor in favour of smaller local schemes was the lower cost of transmission, both for the installation of poles and wires and the power loss from the resistance of the wires themselves.
POWER AND LIGHT.
RETICULATING THE TAIERI.
PUBLIC MEETING AT MOMONA.
THE POWER BOARD PETITION. (excerpt)
A public meeting called by the Momona branch of the Otago Expansion League was held in the Momona Hall on Tuesday night. The chief object of the meeting was to place before residents of the Taieri Plain the present situation regarding the proposed Electric Power Board, the meeting was presided over by Mr A. W. Amos (chairman of the Momona branch), and there were about 70 or 80 men present, including representatives of the Taieri County Council, the Mosgiel Borough Council, the Mosgiel and North Taieri branches of the Expansion League, the Otago Expansion League (represented by Messrs W. B. Steel and G. Errington), the Bruce County Council, and Mr A. C. Henderson (city electrical engineer).
Mr W. B. Steel said it would be necessary to go back a little in history, and he explained the genesis of power boards. They had endeavoured to form one gigantic power board, drawing power from Lake Hawea, but the proposal was eventually turned down because the population was not yet great enough to justify it. Attention was then concentrated on the Waipori and Teviot schemes. The Teviot scheme was now well ahead, and they were hoping to have it in December next, and very cheap it would be. Of the big schemes in the dominion, Waipori stood head and shoulders above the rest for cheapness, and there was still abundance of reserve power to supply the coastal belt. -Otago Witness, 10/7/1923.
The Dunedin City Council invested in power generation at Waipori, gaining permission from Wellington to flood the town of Waipori and compensate its people. Invercargill built the Monowai station which was sending power by March, 1925. Roxburgh used Lake Onslow, already built to provide a dependable water flow for gold mining, to supply the Teviot River powerhouse. Roaring Meg stream in the Kawarau Gorge was built in the 1930s to supply power to the Cromwell and Queenstown areas.
Lake Hawea was, eventually, dammed in the 1950s to regulate its level and flow for hydro generation down the Clutha River at Roxburgh and then Clyde. The Neck scheme has recently been revived as a proposal, not only to generate power from the difference in lake levels, but also - in time of high rainfall, possible flooding and cheap hydro power prices - to pump water up from Lake Wanaka to Hawea to prevent the flooding of Wanaka town.
This latest possibility was announced in 2012 and Lake Wanaka Guardians Chairwoman Helen Tait was less than enthusiastic. No comment, it seems, was solicited from the people of Lake Hawea as to how they might feel about flood waters being pumped from Lake Wanaka to Hawea in times of high rainfall.
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