PCE comment on Lake Pūkaki Hydro Storage and Dam Resilience Works

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has provided a comment to the Fast-track Approvals Panel on Meridian Energy’s proposal for the Lake Pūkaki Hydro Storage and Dam Resilience Works. The proposal is to shift decision-making power over access to additional lake water held in reserve – called contingent storage – from Transpower to Meridian.

While acknowledging the potential local environmental and amenity impacts of lowering lake levels in an iconic landscape, the submission focuses primarily on the short and long-term implications for the wider electricity system. In making this decision there is a trade-off between electricity system costs and security of supply. The Commissioner’s letter points out that making this trade-off is ultimately political in nature and would best be informed by an energy strategy.