A new company has been formed to revive the long-discussed Lake Onslow pumped-hydro project - this time as a private venture rather than a government one. 

Clutha Pumped Hydro Consortium Limited was registered with the Companies Office on October 17. 

The consortium’s directors are John Hardie, David Parker, Kenneth Smales, and Keith Turner. 

Its sole shareholder is Pumped Hydro Holdings Limited, a company jointly owned by the same group along with associated entities, as well as Rodger Finlay and Oscar Francis. 

Media reports suggest the group is positioning itself to take over where the government left off on the Teviot Valley energy-infrastructure project.  

The previous Labour-led government had championed Lake Onslow as a potential ‘national battery’ for the electricity grid. 

However, the cost of the project - initially projected to be $4B - ballooned to nearly $16B, and completion was not expected until 2037. 

The incoming National coalition shelved the project shortly after taking power in 2023, citing cost and timescale concerns. 

So how would it work?  

When electricity is plentiful and cheap, water is pumped uphill into a high reservoir. When demand rises, that water is released back down through turbines to generate electricity. 

At Lake Onslow, the concept was to use the existing reservoir above the Teviot Valley as the upper storage site, creating enough capacity to store several terawatt-hours of energy - enough to help power the country through a dry year, when hydro lakes elsewhere run low. 

Now, the creation of the Clutha Pumped Hydro Consortium has brought the idea back into play. 

With private ownership, the backers would need to raise their own finance and secure resource consents. 

While no formal application has yet been lodged, the consortium is understood to be exploring a fast-track consent process.  

Representatives of the group have reportedly begun sounding out local property owners in the Teviot Valley as well as industry and government representatives. 

Energy Minister Simon Watts confirmed to Newsroom he would be open to a fast-track application from the Clutha pumped hydro consortium, saying the legislation was designed to enable large-scale infrastructure projects. 

He said he had spoken to those behind the new consortium. 

Director David Parker is a former Labour government minister, while Keith Turner once headed Meridian Energy before later chairing the board of Transpower. 

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