5. Challenges Faced and Posed by Transmission
At the most fundamental level, the problem is that transmission can have adverse environmental effects that cannot always be fully avoided, remedied or mitigated. Therefore, to the extent that transmission is needed, the environment, communities and individuals have to bear some adverse effects, or accept that electricity supply will be at risk and the resulting social and economic consequences of that.
In considering whether there should be national intervention, the key question is why local decision-making cannot properly and reasonably manage both the transmission network and the environment.
The answer is partly because the RMA does not deal well with situations such as that described. The Act requires that the adverse effects are avoided, remedied or at the very least, mitigated to a point where they do not undermine communities' expectations of environmental quality. In doing so it rather assumes that it is always possible to do so. As discussed above that is not always the case for electricity transmission.
But that situation is not unique to transmission. Many other major infrastructural activities and essential services face similar difficulties.41 Their response is, as Transpower's has been, to participate in the RMA process to advocate their interests and seek to influence the provisions of district and regional plans.
Transpower advises that it has had to take 70% of district plans to appeal in an attempt to secure provisions it regards as essential for the efficient operation of its business.
5.1 Distinguishing Characteristics of Transmission
There are some characteristics of the transmission sector which make the task of negotiating the existing policy and regulatory environment arguably more difficult than for other industries. These are discussed in the following sections.
5.1.1 Local Costs and Non Local Benefits
The costs and benefits of electricity transmission typically fall within different jurisdictions. The environmental costs are local, but most of the benefits are regional and national. The RMA promotes local decision-making because decisions are best made closest to the community of interest most affected by the outcome of the decision. However, in the case of transmission, the local decision-maker's jurisdiction is likely to experience all the costs and few of the benefits.
In other words, with transmission there are two communities of interest - the local community and the national community. In the absence of national policy providing guidance on what the national interest may be, local decision-makers may not be well placed to make decisions that acknowledge the wider benefits associated with transmission projects.
5.1.2 The Linear and Network Nature of Transmission
The transmission network is extensive and linear. This means that it is particularly vulnerable to variation in the policy and regulatory approaches of local authorities (the more authorities involved in regulating a project, the more potential variation42).
The specifications for a transmission line must be the same throughout its length. From a technical perspective, it is not feasible to expect the specifications of a line to vary depending on the local authority through which it passes.
Similarly, the network nature of transmission means that 99% success is not enough. If one small part of a line is not able to be completed, or is unable to be completed on the same timeline, the entire network can be affected.
The reality is that transmission lines and transmission projects traverse multiple local authorities, involving multiple plans with the potential for each plan to have multiple zones, each with different standards. This can create a hugely complex regulatory environment.
Some variation between local authorities in the approach, both to new lines and the use and development of existing lines, is to be expected (reflecting as it will different environments and circumstances). However, undue or unjustified variation in the regulatory standards that apply across the network, has the potential to impose significant cost, and disrupt the timely and efficient maintenance and upgrading of the network.
5.1.3 Limited Alternatives to Transmission
Most of New Zealand's current electricity needs are provided by large generation stations (particularly hydro generation, most of which is in the South Island) located at some distance from most major load centres (e.g. Auckland, the Bluff aluminium smelter). The existing transmission network connects major generation and load centres. It would be impractical to develop alternatives to the existing transmission infrastructure (that would require relocating major generation or load, or building new transmission lines or cables), so the existing assets are likely to remain in place and play a key role in meeting electricity requirements for the foreseeable future.
The conflict between local environmental impacts and existing (and upgraded) electricity transmission will remain.
In addition, Transpower and generators consider that capacity on the transmission system will need to continue to grow if the electricity system is to operate in anything like an optimal way.
5.1.4 Transmitting Electricity Requires Pylons, Conductors and Cables
As noted earlier, the Electricity Commission applies a grid investment test to review and approve investments proposed by Transpower. In applying the GIT, the Electricity Commission evaluates whether alternative projects43 or the proposed investment provide the greatest net market benefits.
It may well be that in some situations alternatives are preferable to new transmission.
However, where the Electricity Commission has found that either Transpower's proposed transmission investment or an alternative transmission augmentation are the best options economically to meet identified need, there will be a consequential need for pylons, conductors (lines) and/or cables. There are limited means to avoid, remedy or mitigate the environmental effects from pylons, conductors and cables.
For that reason (and for the reasons set out in 5.1.3), there will continue to be a direct and unavoidable trade-off between the local environmental effects and electricity transmission.
As a result of the combination of all the factors and characteristics set out above, transmission and its management under the RMA faces a number of issues. These are described below.
5.2 Issues Associated with the RMA's Management of Transmission
5.2.1 Limited Acknowledgement of the Benefits of Transmission
Few plans acknowledge the significant social, economic and environmental benefits associated with transmission. Transmission tends to be regarded much like any other activity as potentially causing adverse environmental effects.
This view is supported by recent research commissioned by MED44 which found that no district planmakes specific reference to the national benefits of electricity transmission (although 6 of the 71 district plans reviewed make reference to the national benefits of network infrastructure generally).
Furthermore, the references made in district plans tend to be made in the "issues" sections. They are not within the objectives and/or policies of those plans where they might be expected to have greater influence on decision-making.
Transpower indicates that about one third of all plans do not adequately recognise (in its view) the benefits of infrastructure.
5.2.2 Uncertainty in the Nature and Extent of Rights Associated with Activities That Might Adversely Affect Existing Lines
Lack of Recognition in RMA Plans and Policies
Few plans recognise that the transmission network can be adversely affected by other activities and requires protection from "incompatible activities".45 Incompatible activities are those activities that either affect, or may be affected by transmission lines. Although the separation of incompatible activities goes to the heart of land use planning, many local authorities have not protected transmission lines from new activities encroaching into the corridor beneath and adjacent to existing lines.
Transpower argues that plans prepared under the RMA should manage the transmission network's exposure to adverse effects such as the accumulation of dust on conductors, risk to structural integrity of pylons, restricted access for maintenance, and reduction in safety distances or public safety generally.
It notes that some local authorities give protection to strategic assets such as airports, but this approach is seldom extended to transmission lines.
MED commissioned research46 supports the assertion that most district and regional plans currently refrain from exercising specific control over activities that may affect the transmission network. That research found that some 108 references are made in policies to the need to avoid, remedy or mitigate the effects of infrastructure on other activities. However, only 9 references are made in policies to the need to avoid, remedy or mitigate the effects on infrastructure from other activities.
Transpower suggests that just 43% of plans have "adequate" policies (from Transpower's perspective) relating to the adverse effects on infrastructure. Transpower's research found that only around a third of plans include the so called "20 metre rule"47 sought by Transpower.
Rights and Obligations under the Electricity Act and Regulations
Although the Electricity Act 1992 resolved any issue about the right of the pre-1988 network to remain where it was installed, it did not resolve the issue of what protection those lines should have from the effects of activities that might take place under or around those lines by, or on behalf of, the property owner.
In some cases agreements were reached at the time of installation, and records remain of the land use rights landowners agreed to forego. In other cases no records remain, or records may never have existed.
In easement agreements entered into post 1988, the restrictions on landowners' rights, designed to protect the transmission asset are agreed, and the landowners affected compensated through the easement agreement process.
However, there remains uncertainty about:
- what rights and obligations exist in respect of landowners affected by pre-1988 lines; and
- whether the RMA can, or should, be used to clarify (and/or extend) rights/obligations to undertake/desist from undertaking incompatible activities under and around both pre and post 1988 lines.
The situation is further complicated by the existence of the Electricity (Hazards from Trees) Regulations 2003 and NZECP 34: 2001 (see section 4.5.2).
The uncertainty about the rights and obligations has led to concern by some landowners that they may be vulnerable to common law liabilities if their activities (or acts or omissions) lead to power outages and/or fires.
However, many landowners argue that to impose restrictions on activities under and around lines through the RMA is unjust, since no compensation would flow from such a restriction. They argue that the RMA should not be used to circumvent an "obligation" for Transpower to pay landowners for abridgement of land use rights (noting Transpower's ability to fully recover costs). Furthermore they assert:
- that if it is reasonable for Transpower to pay for the abridgement of rights in relation to post 1988 lines, then it is also reasonable for it to pay for any abridgement of rights in relation to pre-1988 lines; and
- that if, in respect of post 1988 lines, Transpower and landowners agree on what activities are necessary to be controlled under lines, there is no justification for extending or modifying that control through the RMA.
Transpower argues that property agreement issues and RMA issues should be kept separate, and that there is no rationale for aligning the rights and obligations that flow from each.
It argues that the RMA should be used to clarify the rights and obligations that landowners have in respect to the environmental effects of activities they may undertake under and around lines. It sees no inconsistency in the potential for the RMA to be more restrictive than what might be agreed through an easement agreement.
Local authorities who must grapple with these complexities face uncertainty and conflicting views.
5.2.3 Inconsistency and Uncertainty in the Management of Certain Adverse Effects of Transmission
This issue comprises two sub-issues.
First, is the issue of uncertainty about the nature and extent of rights for maintenance and minor upgrading works associated with existing transmission lines which will generally not have significant adverse environmental effects. This issue relates to existing uses rights and/or the extent to which activities are permitted by district and regional plans.
Second, is the management of specific environmental effects which may, depending on the circumstances, produce significant adverse effects, or be perceived to give rise to significant adverse effects.
These sub-issues are discussed in turn.
A. Existing Use Rights and Permitted Activity Status for Works of a Minor Nature
Reliance on Existing Use Rights under the RMA
Existing use rights provided by section 10 of the RMA are satisfactory insofar as existing transmission lines are at least lawful. However, there are often different interpretations given by local authorities as to the extent of rights associated with inspection, maintenance, repair, replacement or upgrading of those lines. Whether an effect is the same or similar in nature, scale or intensity, is sometimes a highly subjective test. Some local authorities will accept certain activities, others will not.
Provision for Maintenance and Minor Upgrades As Permitted Activities
The variation in how maintenance and minor upgrading is managed under the RMA is also apparent in district plans' specification of what is and is not a permitted activity. Transpower advises that it has been seeking a particular rule in relation to maintenance works and minor upgrading in district plans for many years. Its research shows that only 27% of plans provide for "minor upgrading" in a way Transpower considers to be appropriate. It argues that a further 60% of plans have rules which provide some impediment rendering the rule unworkable. 13% of plans apparently make "inadequate or no provision".
Consistency between Transmission Use Rights under the RMA and Electricity Acts
As noted in section 4.4.2, the Electricity Act 1992 means that, in terms of Transpower's deemed property interest, rights only extend to maintaining, inspecting and operating lines. Maintenance is limited by what would not cause an injurious affection. Beyond this, Transpower would have to negotiate an easement agreement.
Transpower maintains, just as it does in respect of activities that effect lines, that the property access issues and land use issues should be kept separate. It argues that there should be no reason to expect that permitted activity48 status should be limited to what is provided for as "maintenance" under the Electricity Act (or for that matter what might be agreed through individual easement agreements). Transpower also points out that an RMA authorisation for an activity that goes beyond what is provided for by the Electricity Act, does not remove the requirement to negotiate an easement agreement with the affected property owner.
Many landowners, on the other hand, suggest that there should be alignment between the rights available under the two Acts. They argue that the Electricity Act's limitations on the use of the pre-1988 network (or limitations specified in individual easement agreements in respect of post 1988 lines) are designed to limit the environmental impact on property owners in precisely the same way as the RMA seeks to limit adverse effects. They argue that providing for a greater range of activities, as of right, under the RMA may undermine the integrity of the limits imposed to protect landowners under the Electricity Act.
In short, the issue is whether existing use rights/permitted activity specification under the RMA should vary from the rights associated with Transpower's property interests.
B. Managing Effects of Actual or Potential Significance
Some of the main adverse effects of transmission are difficult to manage, and similar effects are often managed differently by local authorities causing uncertainty for Transpower and affected communities. These include the following:
Visual Amenity, Landscape and Rural Character Effects
Visual impacts are one of the most significant issues raised in proposals for new lines.
However, there remains considerable uncertainty about the appropriate way to manage this issue. There is little that can be done to avoid amenity and landscape impacts at the individual property level.49 Transpower currently seeks to minimise amenity impacts through a route selection process that directs the line to a location that will have the least impact when viewed from the district or regional scale. However, there is no dispute that for individual property owners "hosting" lines and pylons, the visual impacts are not avoided, remedied or mitigated through that process.
Electric and Magnetic Fields
Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) arise from all electrical equipment, including high voltage transmission lines.
The current approach to management of these effects by Transpower is to meet the guidelines set by the International Commission on Non -Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), which are endorsed by the World Health Organisation and recommended for use in New Zealand by the Ministry of Health through the National Radiation Laboratory.
The ICNIRP guidelines cover the whole spectrum of electric and magnetic energy (EME), from extremely low frequency (ELF) to radio frequency (RF). However, Transpower advises that the guidelines are dated and unsatisfactory in a number of respects, and in any event are referred to and applied inconsistently in district plans.
Noise from Substations
There is no consistent standard applied to noise from substations. While the acceptable level of noise will vary depending on the site, it is argued that sites with similar locations should be subject to the same noise standards.
Transpower reports that, notwithstanding the absence of a national standard for noise from substations, there is reasonable consistency in the standards that are applied locally and in the requirements for noise measurement.
The more significant concern is the tendency for local authorities to tighten noise standards over time as development encroaches on substations that had previously been located on sites some distance (or which were buffered from) sensitive residential activities.
Cultural, Archaeological and Biodiversity Impacts
Transmission lines have the potential to adversely affect places of cultural, archaeological and conservation significance such as Māori taonga and wāhi tapu and areas of significant indigenous vegetation and habitat. These need to be avoided/minimised by local authorities through a route selection process that requires appropriate consultation on, and responsiveness to, the concerns of local stakeholders.
5.2.4 Process Issues
Related to the foregoing issues are a range of matters associated with the way RMA processes are undertaken. These include:
- depiction of transmission lines in district plans;
- consultation with landowners, Māori, the Department of Conservation and the community;
- when Transpower should be afforded affected party status; and
- consideration given to alternatives.
Each of these process issues is discussed below.
Depiction of Transmission Lines in District Plans
Designations must be included in district plans. This usually means that plans include a schedule of designated works and designations, and for this information to be shown on planning maps.
However, as noted earlier, the pre-1988 lines are not designated and do not receive the benefits described in section 4.3.2 of this report. One of those benefits is that by having transmission designations depicted on planning maps, they inform and remind both local authority planning staff and applicants, that a transmission line exists on a particular site.
That means that resource consent applicants are more likely to address impacts on a transmission line in their assessments of environmental effects (AEEs),50 and locals authorities are more likely to take those effects into account when assessing applications in relation to sites where transmission lines are proposed to be located.
Currently, situations arise where applications for the use of land are submitted to local authorities without any reference to an existing transmission line, and local authorities consider those applications unaware that a transmission line exists. This can lead to situations where activities have been allowed under existing lines which pose a risk to the line, or which place the person who undertakes the activity at some risk from electrical hazard.
Transpower's monitoring shows that about a third of district plans currently do not show transmission lines on planning maps.
Consultation with Landowners, Māori and the Community
The RMA does not require that applicants consult with anyone prior to lodging an application for resource consent or a notice of requirement for a designation. However, it does require an applicant to submit information about who was consulted (if anyone), and any response to the views of those consulted.51 Notwithstanding that there is no legal obligation to consult, it has generally regarded as good practice to consult prior to lodging either a resource consent application or a notice or requirement in relation to major projects.
However, in a major project such as a new transmission line there are many ways to consult, and the task could be very significant indeed, depending on the approach taken. There is currently no guidance as to the form of consultation, or the appropriate duration of the consultation period. Expectations amongst both local authorities and communities differ, and it is difficult for Transpower to know what level of consultation is appropriate.
When Transpower Should Be Afforded Affected Party Status
Under the RMA, if an application for resource consent for an activity has effects on the environment that are not more than minor, it need not be publicly notified. It must, however, be notified to all persons whom the local authority believes will be adversely affected by the activity.
Being identified as being adversely affected allows that party to negotiate directly with the applicant to protect their interests, or failing a mutually agreeable negotiation, allows for the affected party to make a submission on the application and be heard at a local authority hearing.
Transpower claims that it often finds that it is not regarded as an affected party when it believes it should be. As a consequence, applications for activities that may adversely affect the transmission network are lodged and determined without Transpower having input, or even knowing that a proposal exists.
This, in turn, can mean that activities become established under and around lines that risk compromising the reliability of the network and/or which place those undertaking the activity/use at risk from electrical hazard.
Consideration of Alternatives
As outlined in section 5.2.3(a) above, careful route selection is really the only way to mitigate the visual impacts associated with new transmission lines. Because there is no other effective means of mitigation, those whose properties will be affected are left with room only to argue either:
- that the need for the line has not been established (on the basis that effects can be avoided if the line is not genuinely required); and/or
- that all other alternatives need to be considered and discounted before the "new build" project should be approved.
The extent to which these factors are valid to raise and consider is poorly understood. Section 171 of the RMA requires a local authority, when considering a requirement for a designation, to have particular regard to whether adequate consideration has been given to alternative sites, routes, or methods of undertaking the work, and whether the work or designation are reasonably necessary for achieving the objectives of the requiring authority.
However, section 171 does not require:
- local authorities to consider whether Transpower has chosen the best alternative route or method, or even whether it has made that assessment on reasonable grounds; or
- local authorities or Transpower to consider alternatives to the project being proposed (as opposed to alternative ways of undertaking the same project).
There is argument about whether Transpower ought to be required to demonstrate that the route or method is the best option (and why) as per (a) above. On the other hand, the consideration of alternatives to transmission projects, as per (b) above, is clearly a matter that falls within the jurisdiction of the Electricity Commission.52
5.3 Projected Growth
Compounding the challenges identified in the preceding section is the projected growth in transmission projects. As noted in section 4.1, after a period of relatively few new major projects, Transpower is about to embark on a programme of significant investment.
Transpower's Annual Planning Report sets out the projects that Transpower considers to be required over the next 10 years. Excluding maintenance and customer jobs (i.e. new lines to link new generation to the grid) the Annual Planning Report identifies 18 backbone grid projects and 22 regional projects as being committed or proposed over the next 10 years. (Some of these remain subject to Electricity Commission approval).
A full schedule of these projects is provided as Appendix 4.
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