They’ve led some of New Zealand’s biggest companies – but this may be their most ambitious project yet.
Sir Stephen Tindall, Selwyn Pellett and Michael Stiassny have each taken a 5 percent shareholding in Clutha Pumped Hydro Consortium, to privately build the Lake Onslow storage scheme that was cancelled by the coalition Government.
The consortium’s directors, led by former Meridian chief and Transpower chair Dr Keith Turner, have submitted the project to the fast-track for consenting. Turner claims to have slashed the price from the previous government’s estimated $16 billion to under $8 billion.
That remains “an exceptionally expensive exercise” according to Tindall, the philanthropist and founder of The Warehouse retail chain. But he and the other investors want to give it a chance.
Pellett says the project has huge potential for New Zealand, and removes any dependency on imported LNG (liquefied natural gas). And it should have the effect of shutting down or removing the need for the Huntly coal- and gas-fired power station.
“When I look at all the dams around New Zealand, I realise our grandfathers built them, and they built them ahead of need,” he says. “So whether you’re doing it based on green imperatives, or whether you’re doing it based on a sense of society, it’s important. I call it nation building – that’s why I’m doing it.
“I think we need big projects that inspire people, not kicking the can down the road by importing LNG.”
He points to the impact of the Strait of Hormuz closure, when the world’s second-biggest LNG producer Qatar shut down its facilities and exports entirely. It’s critical that New Zealand doesn’t expose itself to that risk by relying on LNG for dry years, he says.
“And then there’s none available. Is that the future security you want for New Zealand? It’s not the future I want.”
Stiassny, who retired this year as chair of Tower Insurance, says that as New Zealand moves to more solar and wind power, it’s important the country also has security of supply for those times when the wind drops and there’s no sun.
“I think energy pricing is one of the biggest things in the Western world,” he says. “We’re moving to solar and wind, but they can be intermittent. It’s ridiculous to think they’re going to be there all the time. And pumped hydro, in a simplistic view like mine, is just another form of a battery really – and therefore this has a place.
“I think it’s a good project. We need to reduce the price of energy.”
But what about importing LNG as a backstop? He laughs. “I think this is a more sustainable long-term alternative.”
He shares Turner’s confidence that the consortium will find international finance for the project. “The fundamentals are such that this should be fundable and it will work. It ain’t going to be easy, but yes, I think we will.”
He and Pellett both say they’re looking forward to visiting the site in Central Otago.
Stephen Tindall is travelling overseas at present, but emailed Newsroom. He and his family have bought shares through their K1W1 investment business.
“K1W1 is working to at least give Keith Turner and the team a chance to take a possible project with the Clutha pumped hydro project to the next stage,” he says.
“This will give all of us a chance to see whether it’s viable or not and hopefully to being able to bring on some very big private players who would need to fund what will be an exceptionally expensive exercise.”
Lake Onslow is about 50km from Santana’s proposed Bendigo-Ophir goldmine – a very different but similarly headline-grabbing Central Otago project that’s also working its way through the fast-track process.
Turner says they’re watching that with interest – particularly how Santana engages with the community.
“Look, the goldmine has its challenges and its opponents,” he says. “We are watching the process with great interest because the fast-track process hasn’t been used on major infrastructure a great deal. If you look at all the fast-track projects, they’re most property developments.
“We just want to learn whatever lessons we can from from their experience, and obviously improve on that, with those learnings.”
