On July 12, from 7 to 10 pm in the Municipal Chambers' Skeggs Gallery, Christchurch-based engineers, Drs David Beach and Chris Bathurst of Neptune Power, will be speaking about their proposal for a tide-turbine farm in the Cook Strait, which could soon replace hydroelectricity and wind-farms as the primary mode of energy-production in New Zealand.
The engineers claim that the application of what is currently functioning prototype technology could generate up to 14000MW of energy in New Zealand: nearly twice the nation's total present capacity. The venturi turbines, which revolve at approximately 5 rpm, are set to pose minimal harm to sea-life, and would be anchored to the sea-bed, 40 metres below the surface, at a depth which prevents damage by algae and storms alike.
Many members of the New Zealand scientific community have tentatively endorsed the proposal as the possible future of New Zealand energy. The engineers themselves have claimed that their proposed site is among the best of its type in the world. The cost of a first-stage production of 2000MWs was presented recently in the Otago Daily Times as approximately two billion dollars, which is the upper limit of the budget presently proposed by Meridian energy for the Hayes Wind Farm, set to produce 630 MW.
The event, which has been organised by the Upland Landscape Protection Society, is designed to introduce the public to a serious alternative form of sustainable energy. Neptune Power's proposal, which is yet to undergo full-scale independent scrutiny by ecologists and marine biologists, would appear to have few of the detractions of the current modes. All members of the public are warmly invited to attend, though the organisers request a gold coin donation to offset rudimentary expenses.
