Environmental planning and consenting for Wairakei: 1953–2008

Abstract: In the early 1950s, the Wairakei geothermal power scheme was “fast tracked” as a project of national importance. In 1991, the Government enacted the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) which changed the focus of environmental planning and management from control of activities to control of the effects of activities on the environment. Existing generation schemes, such as Wairakei were deemed by statute to have resource consents expiring on 1 October 2001, by which time new resource consents had to be applied for. In preparing resource consent applications for Wairakei in 2001, the owner of the Wairakei power station, Contact Energy, compiled a comprehensive Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE). Although applications were lodged in March 2001, the process of securing resource consents took more than 6 years—significantly longer than anyone involved in the process expected at the outset. The applications were delayed by another company, seeking to establish a geothermal power station in the Wairakei field, pursuing legal action to have its resource consent applications heard and determined before those of Contact Energy. This action ultimately failed. A further delay resulted from Environment Waikato, a consenting authority, embarking upon a re-write of the policy regime against which the resource consent applications were to be assessed and determined. This was resolved through lengthy mediation with the assistance of the Environment Court. Also delaying the consent approval was Taupo District Council seeking complete and targeted infield reinjection of waste geothermal fluid from Wairakei with a view to avoiding ground subsidence, particularly in the Tauhara area. This was rejected by the Environment Court in May 2007. The appealed consents were granted in August 2007. In late 2007, the New Zealand Government''s energy strategy set the target of 90% of New Zealand''s total electricity generation coming from renewable sources by 2025, and that no further baseload thermal generation capacity will be developed unless required for security of supply. In accordance with this strategy, Contact Energy has filed resource consent applications for a 225MW geothermal power station at Te Mihi to replace the 50-year-old Wairakei station and is preparing resource consent applications for a similar sized new geothermal power station at Tauhara. The Government considers the Te Mihi proposal one of national significance, and has appointed a Board of Inquiry to decide the Te Mihi applications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]