When constructed, the Waitaha Hydro Project will continuously generate enough renewable energy to power the equivalent of 12,000 Kiwi homes.
Its run-of-river design will not require a dam like traditional hydro schemes, meaning it will have a far lower environmental impact.
This project is a unique partnership between community-owned WestPower and local iwi.
The Government has announced the Waitaha Hydro Project has been included in Schedule 2 of the Fast-Track Approvals Bill.
The Waitaha Hydro Project is run-of-river design that will have far lower impact than traditional hydro schemes.
Run-of-river schemes don’t use a dam, so don’t block off the flow of the river or cause flooding upstream. Instead, a small weir redirects some of the river’s flow down a tunnel race to a powerhouse, before returning the water to the river.
There is always some flow in the stretch of river between the intake weir and the powerhouse, and there is effectively full flow in the river above and below this section.
The Waitaha Hydro Project proposal is driven by Westpower (100% owned by the people of the West Coast) in partnership with Poutini Ngāi Tahu, West Coast iwi comprising Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae and Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio.
On 6 October 2024, the Government announced the Schedule 2 projects included in the Fast-Track Approvals Bill.
The Waitaha Hydro Project was one of 149 projects on the Schedule 2 list.
Westpower and its partners are very excited that this critical renewable energy project will be moving forward.
On 6 October 2024, the Government announced the Waitaha Hydro Project was included in the list of Schedule 2 projects in the Fast-Track Approvals Bill.
The full list can be found here.
The planning for this project began around 2005, and discussions with Department of Conservation staff for a concession (as the project would be built on the conservation estate) began around 2012.
In 2016, the Deputy Director-General (the Minister of Conservation’s delegate) notified an “intention to grant” the application for a concession, subject to public consultation and a hearing process.
After public consultation and hearings in late 2016, in which 3,264 submissions were received (2,864 or 87.7% of which were template submissions from Forest and Bird), Minister for the Environment David Parker was ultimately responsible for approving the application.
In August 2019 David Parker’s office announced that the application had been declined.
In rejecting the application Parker noted that he was satisfied the effects on “birds, bats, lizards, invertebrates, vegetation, native fish, and other aquatic communities, sediment, and river morphology will be minor”.
In essence, Parker’s decision to reject the proposal was due to what were determined to be impacts on the “natural character” of the river and impacts on recreational opportunities.
Parker noted the access for trampers and hunters would likely improve as a result of a better access road near the track and improved access into the Waitaha Valley via track upgrades as a result of concessions being granted.
The decision to decline the application with regard to recreational values focussed on kayaking.
For more information on the use of the river by kayakers, and Westpower’s attempts to mitigate the impact on them, please read FAQ #5 on the FAQs page.
After the original application was declined in 2019, Westpower worked towards improving the proposal in hope of a reconsideration. A formal request for reconsideration was sent to (then) Minister of Conservation Poto Williams in May 2022. No response was received.
Westpower’s request for reconsideration was based on the following grounds:
