Power gentailers have finally lost their social license; EA market review due next month convenient timing for Minister on the warpath; Why marginal market pricing won't achieve carbon zero
Had to happen. Mass immigration has finally come home to bite them on the bum. A million new immigrant-users added to the population in 20 years without adding to power generation.
And, to add to the problem, Government launches a program to convert vehicle inventory from Internal Combustion Engines to Electric without first ensuring there will be adequate electricity to run them. Failure
The power brown-out on Monday night is the kiss-of-death to the EV program
I don't think so. EVs are using less than 0.1% of our electricity and there is masses of new supply on the way. Some of the current situation is due (apart from all the things Bernard mentioned) to weak climate policy in 2016-2018 and an expectation that it would stay weak. To some extent the generators were waiting to see how serious the government was about climate change. Now the Zero Carbon Act is in place and new power stations are being built.
Cynical me is internally chortling at EA arse-covering. Machine-gun announcements of review results pending next year lead me to imagining flurries of internal memos and hastily arranged meetings.
Can't say all this wasn't foreseeable. Content to have sold my Mercurial holdings (gained from their swallowing of the Great River) this tax year, at 400%.
FYI from an emailer: Question, with the big push to go carbon neutral given that NZ is an island and amounts for less than 1% of 1%, and with the move away from wood burning heating and gas heating, particularly the push for electric powered cars, how can NZers be sure that the price of electricity will remain affordable, and how will we be sure the existing supply will meet demand without the use of coal?
Coupled with the future increase in population and infrastructure upgrades required to fulfill the needs of medium density housing, how will we keep up?
Crikey we can’t even keep up with our roading and sewerage network.
The answer is the wealthy give up some of their wealth to ensure a just transition. My preference is a land tax to pay for climate-friendly housing and transport investment.
In the sort term there is plenty of renewable generation being or about to be built. By 2025 we can expect lower prices and much, much less burning of coal - probably none. Longer term we do need much more investment so I would hope (pending radical changes in the economy to extract some of that boomer wealth) the government would pay for a chunk of it.
Thanks Bernard. Can you explain why the government allows its majority-owned companies to not only not endorse government policy (100% renewable electricity) but to actively work against it? Surely that's taking arms-length management a bit far. Likewise, Genesis is holding well over 1000 MW of consented renewable supply that they have gone very quiet on. Wouldn't such large decisions have some involvement from the board?
Why is it so hard for new entrants to enter the market? For a long time there was only one, Tilt Renewables, and even they sold first all the electricity (to Genesis) and then the whole company (to Mercury).
Had to happen. Mass immigration has finally come home to bite them on the bum. A million new immigrant-users added to the population in 20 years without adding to power generation.
And, to add to the problem, Government launches a program to convert vehicle inventory from Internal Combustion Engines to Electric without first ensuring there will be adequate electricity to run them. Failure
The power brown-out on Monday night is the kiss-of-death to the EV program
You make an interesting point about confidence in power networks, along with pricing and infrastructure investment. Will hold back many an EV buyer.
I don't think so. EVs are using less than 0.1% of our electricity and there is masses of new supply on the way. Some of the current situation is due (apart from all the things Bernard mentioned) to weak climate policy in 2016-2018 and an expectation that it would stay weak. To some extent the generators were waiting to see how serious the government was about climate change. Now the Zero Carbon Act is in place and new power stations are being built.
Cynical me is internally chortling at EA arse-covering. Machine-gun announcements of review results pending next year lead me to imagining flurries of internal memos and hastily arranged meetings.
Can't say all this wasn't foreseeable. Content to have sold my Mercurial holdings (gained from their swallowing of the Great River) this tax year, at 400%.
Ha! Thanks Craig. Those investments have been great for shareholders. Appears the Government is reluctant to turn off the cash tap.
FYI from an emailer: Question, with the big push to go carbon neutral given that NZ is an island and amounts for less than 1% of 1%, and with the move away from wood burning heating and gas heating, particularly the push for electric powered cars, how can NZers be sure that the price of electricity will remain affordable, and how will we be sure the existing supply will meet demand without the use of coal?
Coupled with the future increase in population and infrastructure upgrades required to fulfill the needs of medium density housing, how will we keep up?
Crikey we can’t even keep up with our roading and sewerage network.
My reply: Great question.
The answer is the wealthy give up some of their wealth to ensure a just transition. My preference is a land tax to pay for climate-friendly housing and transport investment.
In the sort term there is plenty of renewable generation being or about to be built. By 2025 we can expect lower prices and much, much less burning of coal - probably none. Longer term we do need much more investment so I would hope (pending radical changes in the economy to extract some of that boomer wealth) the government would pay for a chunk of it.
Thanks Bernard. Can you explain why the government allows its majority-owned companies to not only not endorse government policy (100% renewable electricity) but to actively work against it? Surely that's taking arms-length management a bit far. Likewise, Genesis is holding well over 1000 MW of consented renewable supply that they have gone very quiet on. Wouldn't such large decisions have some involvement from the board?
Why is it so hard for new entrants to enter the market? For a long time there was only one, Tilt Renewables, and even they sold first all the electricity (to Genesis) and then the whole company (to Mercury).