Contact Energy (ASX:CEN, NZE:CEN) scaled back part of a plan to draw more water from Lake Hāwea in New Zealand, to boost renewable energy generation and help safeguard electricity supply, Radio New Zealand said in a Wednesday report.

The firm is seeking fast-track consent to lower the lake's minimum operating level to 336 meters from 338 meters. It has revised a proposal to drop the level to 330 meters in extreme cases, such as extra dry years, by setting a new 334-meter limit. The current emergency limit was 336 meters.

Contact Energy's head of generation, Boyd Brinsdon, informed Hāwea locals in a written update earlier this week that the firm changed its plans as a result of new data citing independent energy system modelling. Locals had expressed concerns that the drop in the lake's water level could affect their water supplies and cause dust storms.

Brinsdon added that the infrastructure minister was mulling whether the proposal qualified under New Zealand's Fast-track Approvals Act.

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