Plans to electrify Queenstown’s Frankton marina are underway.
Lakes Marina Projects Ltd and Electric Wave Ltd, whose directors are Jonathan Edgar, of Whangarei and Anna-Corina Groot, of Auckland, have asked Queenstown’s council to vary conditions to enable electric boat-charging infrastructure at the marina, which was officially opened in November, 2022.
The companies want to remove two ‘‘fingers’’ on one pier and replace them with a shortened finger on which cabinets, a transformer, rectifiers, bowsers and associated underground cabling would be installed.
Both the cables and transformer met the definition of ‘utility’ and were permitted, according to the application.
The proposed variation — ‘‘in progress’’ with council planners — also seeks to reduce the number of berths on ‘Pier C’ from three to two, with one berth being widened to enable parking for electric boats.
The widened finger would accommodate two electric boat chargers/bowsers, which essentially work in a similar way to fuel tanks.
‘‘The key difference being the source of energy will be from the Aurora distribution line, rather than fuel trucks coming and going to the marina area,’’ the application says.
Because the berths and fingers are floating, and the proposal won’t require any anchoring or disturbance of the lake bed, the applicants say there’ll be no adverse effects relating to aquatic values or lake bed sedimentation.
In fact, the proposal will result in positive effects on the environment/water body, the companies say, because it’ll encourage the use of electric boats rather than fuel powered boats.
That’ll decrease fuel consumption and pollution into Lake Whakatipu, and therefore improve its quality.
‘‘The electric charging stations are considered to encourage a shift in behaviour from users, to switch from fuel-powered vessels to electric-powered vessels.’’
Last September, Queenstown businessman Rod Drury told Mountain Scene the electrification would pave the way to introduce an electric foiling ferry to the lake, to run between Queenstown and Kingston.
That’s part of a wider goal Drury and former mayor Jim Boult have to get a new power cable between the resort and the southern end of Lake Whakatipu.
They say that one cable would super-charge the Whakatipu’s power supply, improve reliability, unlock opportunities for electric vehicles, electric marine and micro-autonomous buses and result in another world-class cycleway.
