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Meridian holds resource consents, permits and agreements with stakeholders to operate its generation assets. Our monitoring in 2006/07 found no significant instances of non-compliance at Manapouri or on the Waitaki Hydro Scheme. Te Apiti wind farm continued to operate within noise and other consent parameters. Monitoring and compliance activities were also a key part of the construction of the White Hill wind farm.
Throughout this monitoring and compliance work we continue to determinedly support the best possible environmental outcomes and where possible, seek to go the extra mile - not only to meet regulatory requirements - but to exceed them.
Consent Compliance
We are proud of our environmental compliance record and work hard to maintain and improve our systems and performance.
The table below provides an overview of the non-compliance/unauthorised-activity events associated with Meridian's assets that are in operation and under construction.
Manapouri Hydro-Power Scheme (operating)
| Location |
No. |
Scale |
Detail |
| Manapouri Lake Control (MLC) |
7 |
Minor |
Turbidity events – associated with releasing flows at MLC during turbid (discoloured water) events to avoid turbid water entering Lake Manapouri. The events are of short duration (<15 minutes) and typically the result of debris/algae build up on sensors, or the lag time between instrumentation and MLC gate opening, or both. In all events no turbid water entered Lake Manapouri. The events were considered less than minor with respect to any potential environmental effects. |
| MLC |
1 |
Minor |
Minimum flow to Lower Waiau River – related to a gate encoder failure that resulted in a 30 minute flow of only 13.69 cumecs which was below the required 14 cumec flow. The event was considered less than minor with respect to any potential environmental effects. |
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MLC
|
3 |
Minor |
Recreational releases of 35 cumecs are required at set times over the summer months. Two of these flows were not released due to low lake levels restricting the availability of water. In consultation with stakeholders, an additional flow was released in October in lieu of the flows not released.
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| Minor MLC & Te Anau Lake Control (TLC) |
4 |
Minor |
Ramping rates. Under normal operations the rate of change in the flows from the structures should not exceed 20 cumecs per hour. There were four occasions the flow was exceeded, three at MLC and one at TLC. These were considered less than minor with respect to any potential environmental effects. |
Waitaki Hydro-Power Scheme (operating)
| Location |
No. |
Scale |
Detail |
| Ohau Canal |
1 |
Minor |
Flow rates – specific flows from Lake Ohau into the Ohau canal are required when certain lake levels are reached. The event relates to minor lake level recorder calibration differences. A Resource Consent application has been lodged for works to correct this situation. |
| Benmore Power Station |
4 |
Minor |
Discharge flows - limits at the station of 660 cumecs were exceeded, by less than 4% of total flow on each occasion. Overall the discharge flow limit was complied with 99.93% of the time. The events were considered less than minor with respect to any potential environmental effects. |
| Waitaki Power Station |
1 |
Minor |
Load change limits - Waitaki power station load change limits regarding flows less than 200 m3/s were exceeded on one occasion. The event was considered less than minor with respect to any potential environmental effects. |
| Pukaki River (Gt 19) |
1 |
Minor |
Recreational releases - the required 24hr notification to relevant parties was not given on one occasion prior to a recreational release. The event was however well advertised through other means. |
Te Apiti (operating)
| Location |
No. |
Scale |
Detail |
| Te Āpiti |
0 |
N/A |
N/A |
White Hill (under construction/operating)
| Location |
No. |
Scale |
Detail |
| Access Road |
1 |
Minor |
Contaminant discharge - a crane being transported onto the site tipped over at the site entrance. Diesel fuel and oil was spilled from the crane, but this was contained and all contaminated soil removed for remediation at an approved site. |
West Wind (pre-construction)
| Location |
No. |
Scale |
Detail |
| On-site |
1 |
Minor |
Water damming - a small dam was constructed on the basis of the advice they were a permitted activity. During a significant storm event the dam failed, resulting in a discharge of silt that resulted in no off-site effects. It was then identified that the dam was not a permitted activity and retrospective consent was obtained for all dams. The failed dam was re-built in compliance with the resource consents. |
Waitaki Farm Holdings
| Location |
No. |
Scale |
Detail |
SH83, Kurow
SH83, Duntroon |
1 |
Minor |
Unintentional unauthorised takes of groundwater at one site on each of these properties. The activities were ceased immediately upon identification of the non-compliance. No adverse environmental effects are considered to have occurred. |
| SH83, Kurow |
1 |
Minor |
Unintentional unauthorised irrigation of pasture land not identified on resource consent plans. The activity was ceased immediately upon identification of the non-compliance. No adverse environmental effects are considered to have occurred. |
Objectives
Our monitoring systems have four principal objectives:
- Year-to-year and long term compliance with consents, permits and stakeholder agreements
- Identification of any environmental, social and cultural effects associated with Meridian's operations over the long term
- Enhancement in the way that operations are managed, and environmental impacts mitigated, as new information is obtained
- A high level of stakeholder understanding of and support for our compliance, monitoring and enhancement activities.
Projects
Within the context of our stakeholder agreements, resource consents and environmental matters of significance to the company (e.g. biosecurity), Meridian supports various projects to monitor and enhance the natural environments in which we generate renewable energy or have new projects under construction. These projects reflect the breadth of our relationships with local communities, and environmental and cultural interest groups. Progress was made on many of the projects which Meridian collaborated on in 2006/07:
| Waitaki Power Scheme |
Manapouri Power Scheme |
| Ongoing funding to Fish and Game for the Scott Creek spawning and maintenance enhancement project (Lake Tekapo) |
Doubtful Sound biological and physical annual monitoring programme, ongoing |
| Ongoing funding of the Project River Recovery programme managed by Department of Conservation (see story) |
Lower Waiau annual periphyton and invertebrates monitoring |
| Ongoing elver and migratory long fin eel transfer programmes (in conjunction with local rununga) |
Five yearly lake shore physical monitoring - Lakes Te Anau & Manapouri |
| Annual release of water from Lake Tekapo for recreational canoeing and kayaking events between October 2006 and March 2007 |
Ongoing elver and migratory long fin eel transfer programmes |
| Ongoing funding of Lagarosiphon control efforts in Lake Benmore in conjunction with Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) |
Continued acoustic tagging and tracking programme of migratory long fin eels in Lake Manapouri |
| An extensive didymo monitoring and surveillance programme for the Waitaki canal system in accordance with biosecurity permits (see story) |
A new programme of ongoing water quality sampling in the Waiau Arm (13km stretch of water between Lake Manapouri and the Manapouri Lake Control Structure |
| Support and funding to the Tekapo Community Board for local initiatives |
Third and final year of a Meridian co-funded PhD research project into the ecology and conservation of black billed gulls in Southland |
| Review of stakeholder agreements to reconfirm and/or develop new mitigation initiatives |
An extensive didymo monitoring and surveillance programme in accordance with biosecurity permits (see story) |
| White Hill Wind Farm - Construction |
Manapouri Power Scheme |
| Karearea (NZ Falcon) nesting & monitoring programme |
Routine bird strike monitoring and reporting |
| Red Tussock Restoration programme (see story) |
Routine erosion and sediment control surveillance and maintenance |
| Implementation of a comprehensive construction erosion and sediment erosion programme |
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Our Performance