High above Roxburgh in the seemingly never ending Lammerlaws is the artificial Lake Onslow. It's pretty remote and very hard to get to in winter but stunningly isolated. It's mainly on farmland with a smattering of cribs along it's lonely shores.
Currently this site is under review to build a new dam and raise the water level by 50m!! Acting like a battery water would be pumped up here from the Clutha River in times of high water flow (effectively using free otherwise unutilized energy) and then when it was dry and power more expensive it would flow from Lake Onslow generating power on the way down.
The crib owners aren't very happy as their cribs would be flooded and to me the plan would result in a massive high/low lake level difference leaving an ugly shoreline and limiting the lake's usefulness. In flooding the lake they would also flood some fascinating swamp areas on the South Eastern Arm of the lake. It's my mission to record these before the lake is raised. Sadly most New Zealanders wouldn't even know this incredible area exists...