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Stephen Russell / Things
Teviot Dam on Lake Onslow, where the government hopes to create a huge “battery” of renewable energy.
The Labor Party would aim to make 100 percent of New Zealand’s electricity generation renewable by 2030 if elected, five years before the government’s current target.
It would do this by banning the construction of new coal or gas power plants, boosting solar power, allowing renewable energy projects to get consents faster. It would spend another $ 70 million on a possible hydroelectric scheme pumped into Lake Onslow in Otago, a huge renewable battery.
The target, announced by Labor leader Jacinda Ardern on Thursday, would be revised in 2025 when the government draws up its carbon budget that year, as required by the Zero Carbon Act.
Labor has also re-committed to the Clean Car Standard policy, which sets a standard for fuel efficiency for new or used vehicles entering the country, but not the controversial “feebate” policy that would make electric vehicles and cleaner were cheaper by making less efficient cars costly.
NZ First rejected both policies during this period of government.
Stuff
Jacinda Ardern announced the policy during a tour of Taupō on Thursday.
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* A prudent approach to New Zealand’s renewable energy targets
* Industry figures say Lake Onslow hydro project is not worth it
* The government wants 100% green electricity by adding ‘battery’ power to hydropower
$ 70 million will also be invested in funds administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) that aim to help the private sector decarbonize and replace the use of fossil fuel thermal processes with renewable processes.
Electricity is responsible for around 5 percent of New Zealand’s carbon emissions, but industrial heat and transport processes are responsible for many more.
Ardern said the investment needed to “green the grid” would also provide much-needed jobs during the Covid-19 recession.
“Investing in renewable energy creates many jobs. Our plan will create new jobs and develop the highly skilled workforce that our future economy needs to prosper, ”he said.
The workforce is adamant on “dry year” plans that will allow it to keep electricity prices on the rise as the country moves toward more renewables.
JOhn Bisset
Much of New Zealand’s energy is already renewable.
Most of New Zealand’s electricity is already produced on a renewable basis – 82% in 2019.
But coal and gas generation, particularly at Huntly, still fills the gaps left by renewables.
This is in part because hydropower can suffer from “dry years” with low lake levels.
Energy Minister Megan Woods is particularly interested in the use of “hydraulic pumps” in Lake Onslow as a possible solution to this problem.
This system would bring water to an upper reservoir when there is more than is necessary for the generation of electricity, for use in “dry years”, as a kind of water battery.
The Lake Onslow scheme, if successful, could store 5,000GWh, roughly one-eighth of the country’s total annual energy use.
However, the government is not yet sure that Lake Onslow is a feasible project, with the $ 70 million earmarked for design and construction work.
Construction would not begin for four to five years if found to be feasible and would likely cost around $ 4 billion, creating up to 4,500 jobs in the process.
“We are committed to taking the next steps to reach 100% renewable energy with support for projects such as hydroelectric power pumped into Lake Onslow, removing barriers to the development of new renewable electricity projects, promoting green hydrogen and other technologies. green and supporting companies to decarbonize, ”said Woods.
The current government has already invested $ 30 million in a business case for Lake Onslow.
Woods was also interested in the new “green hydrogen,” a fuel source that could eventually replace gasoline and diesel. But this technology is far from ready for the market and workers are only committing $ 10 million for a “hydrogen roadmap.”
Woods is also interested in issuing a National Policy Statement under the Resource Management Act to make renewable energy projects much easier to pass.
The Green Party also has a plan to advance the renewable energy target until 2030, with massive subsidies for homeowners to upgrade to solar power in their own homes and a variety of other subsidies.
National has rejected the 100% renewable target by 2035.
Their 2019 discussion paper said the country needed to have a “conversation about what our energy mix will look like in the future, the impact on the cost of living for Kiwi families, and if this is possible without traditional fuels like natural gas.”
The Interim Committee on Climate Change recommended investigating schemes such as pumping hydro to achieve the original goal of 2035.
But he cautioned that taking New Zealand on the last mile from 99% to 100% would probably not be worth the investment required.
