Energy Biz - July/August 2008 - (Page 14) » FinAnciAl Front Building on Hydro Riches kiWis set amBitioUs ReneWaBles taRget By haRRy dUynhoven (Guest opinion) Harry Duynhoven new Zealand, lIke the rest of the world, faces two major energy challenges. The first is to respond to the risks of climate change by reducing the greenhouse gases caused by the production and use of energy. The second is to deliver clean, affordable energy while treating the environment responsibly. New Zealand is lucky in its abundant sources of renewable energy sources, and indeed, already around two-thirds of the country’s energy comes from renewables, mainly hydro dams. Specifically, in 2007, 57 percent of electricity generated came from hydro. A further 12 percent came from other renewable and waste heat sources, mainly geothermal, with the rest made up from wind, biomass and biogas. The remainder came from fossil-fueled plants. New Zealand’s NewsFlash electricity generation system areva Goes to idaho is thus a mixed hydro-therAreva will build a mal system, in which hydro $2 billion uranium energy is used as much as enrichment plant near Idaho Falls, Idaho, possible, depending on lake according to the levels, and thermal power Associated Press. It is expected to be stations run as necessary built by 2014 but first to make up the rest of the needs local, state and required supply. Wind federal approvals. July/August 2008 energy plays a small, but increasing, role in supplying New Zealand’s electricity needs. New Zealand remains a nuclear-free country. In October, the government released the New Zealand Energy Strategy, which outlines New Zealand’s vision of a sustainable, low-emissions energy system. Along with the New Zealand emissions trading scheme, an all-sectors all-gases scheme that imposes on the New Zealand economy an economic signal to reflect the cost of greenhouse gas emissions, the energy strategy signals a strong preference for investment in the electricity sector to be in renewable generation options. A key target in the strategy is for 90 percent of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2025. Although this sounds ambitious, it’s estimated that around 175 megawatts of new renewable energy is needed each year to reach the target. Given that this year alone we are building around 300 megawatts of renewable energy, I expect it to be very achievable. It’s also affordable. We know, from recent investment in wind and geothermal generation by some of our major energy companies, that many of the already known renewable projects are costcompetitive with fossil fuel alternatives. Our energy modelling shows that in New Zealand sufficient cost-competitive renewable energy generation is available such that no major fossil-fueled thermal generation will be needed for 20 years. In this time, there will also be technological advances in other renewables generation — such as solar and marine energy systems — that the world, and New Zealand, could then deploy. New Zealand recognizes that our emission trading system alone would not preclude growth in fossil-fueled thermal generation if gas prices were to drop below the cost of renewables. Hence, to support the target, and in addition to the emission trading scheme, New Zealand is also introducing into legislation a renewables preference that includes provisions to restrict new baseload fossilfueled generation over the next 10 years, except to the extent necessary for security of supply. To smooth the planning consent processes for renewable energy projects the government is providing local authorities with planning guidance on the 14 E n E rgyB i z
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.