Damming the Dam Sixty Years On: Continued Conflict Over the Manapouri Hydro-Electric Power Scheme, New Zealand
Damming the dam sixty years on: continued conflict over the Manapouri hydro-electric power scheme, New Zealand. Debbie Ellis1 and Anna Palliser1 1Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Health, Humanities & Computing, Southern Institute of Technology, New Zealand. Abstract Almost half of New Zealand’s electricity is generated from hydro-power and the Manapōuri Hydropower Scheme, which first began generating in 1969, is New Zealand’s largest, with a current maximum output of 800MW, enough for 619000 homes (Meridian Energy, n.d.). The Manapōuri plant takes water from a lake and river system largely located in Fiordland, a National Park located in the mountains of Southland, South Island, New Zealand. This is an unusual hydro scheme in that its freshwater take is diverted directly into the ocean after passing through turbines, thus it can be considered as freshwater abstraction rather than diversion. Most New Zealand river or lake based hydro power plants retain or divert freshwater, releasing it after use back into the freshwater system (Young, Smart and Harding, 2004). Before the plant was built, freshwater from the lake and river system flowed out to sea via the Lower Waiau River, which used to be New Zealand’s second largest river, with a flow of around 400 cumecs1 (“Waiau River”, n.d.). However, this river was deemed a sacrificial river2 (Guardians annual report, 1994) and most of its flow was diverted to the ocean once the power plant began operating. Any water allowed to flow down this river would not pass through the turbines and thus would entail a loss of electricity production for the Manapōuri Power Scheme.
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