About the project

Meridian applied for water resource consents in October 2006 to build a hydro electricity generation tunnel on the Waitaki River in South Canterbury. This project is known as North Bank Hydro.

The original proposal was to take water from Lake Waitaki, drop it through a large bored tunnel, and discharge it back into the Waitaki River about 34 kilometres downstream near Stonewall.

Latest developments

We’ve recently completed an engineering study so we can apply for consents for land use and operation.

Our engineering consultant performed a feasibility study of our original concept. This discovered that the proposed tunnel has a large zone of crushed rock crossing its path, which is not well suited to tunnelling.

Designers found an alternative path around the crushed zone. They recommended a change to our original proposal by creating two tunnels, linked by a canal.

The intake and outfall are in the same locations as originally proposed, with water coming back into the river about 34 kilometres downstream near Stonewall.

Because of the complexities and cost in consenting a project of this size, Meridian was granted approval to stage the consent process. 

We initially applied for and were granted water consents, before carrying out the engineering work required to apply for land use and operation consent.