The electricity generator and retailer Trustpower is diversifying its portfolio, with plans to invest up to $400 million in irrigation infrastructure in Canterbury.
The company has just completed the first stage, which cost $14 million and involves pumping small quantities of water from the Rakaia River.
Trustpower aims to eventually build a canal and use water from Lake Coleridge to irrigate thousands of hectares of farmland.
Its commercial operations manager, Chris O'Hara, says the company is taking advantage of the fact that it already uses the lake to feed one of its power stations.
