PGOG chairman Alan Fraser said he had received Ministerial assurances that the government had not indicated any preference for overhead high-tension cabling to transfer power to and from the high tech project.

“Despite the government’s clear directives that it had no preference for overhead power cabling, that’s exactly what the project’s Environmental Effects Statement consultants have used to benchmark the project’s power supply,” Mr Fraser said.

“It’s a disappointing development that we are working with government and the desalination plant project team to redress.

“We have a clear task to assure bidding alliances that underground power cabling from the plant to existing overhead infrastructure is officially acceptable if not privately preferred,” Mr Fraser said.

The PGOG said it had a examined a range of power options available to the project including geo thermal, gas fired, solar, wind, overhead and underground.

The group concluded that underground cabling was likely to be more expensive than overhead but compared with the newer technologies it was an acceptable time/cost compromise.