Towards a cleaner, greener electricity future

SEANZ08 CONFERENCE

Brendan Winitana, Chairman SEANZ

Opinion piece based on keynote speech to Sustainable Electricity Association NZ Annual Conference 11 December, Te Papa, Wellington

Word length: 750

We are a lucky country blessed with abundant sun and wind – the right ingredients that should be helping more New Zealanders generate their own clean, green power.
We have a golden opportunity to harness the sun’s power and nature’s wind – free fuel if you like- to provide more renewable energy, lower carbon emissions and build a lucrative new industry.

But sadly New Zealand lags behind the rest of world in embracing the opportunities offered by solar power, mini wind turbines and other small scale renewable energy sources.

The technology certainly exists for New Zealanders to install solar panels or wind turbines in their homes and businesses as is common overseas, but it needs political will and the right support mechanisms to lower the capital costs.

Australia, Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Japan, China, the US, the UK and many other countries globally have had both the will of the industry to make it happen and the political desire to effect change for the better. Now they have a flourishing industry providing skilled jobs, exports and innovation as well as greater energy security and green power.

In June this year a British government-backed industry report on micro-generation identified that British buildings equipped with solar panels, mini wind turbines and other renewable energy sources could generate as much electricity a year as five nuclear power stations.

The report stated that if the government offered the right combination of incentives, nearly 10 million micro-generation systems could be installed by 2020. That means nearly one in five buildings would in effect become mini power stations feeding electricity into the grid or generating enough to be largely self-sufficient.

The challenge of climate change provides a compelling argument. The report identified that a large-scale switch to micro renewable energy generation could save 30m tonnes of CO2 - the equivalent of nearly 5% of all the emissions produced in generating electricity in the UK.

The most effective support mechanism common in all countries is the feed-in tariff – a regulated tariff requiring electricity retailers to buy power from households and businesses which generate their own electricity at a rate several times the normal retail rate. This provides a quicker pay back on the capital costs of the technology, with the cost spread over all consumers. They all pay a little bit extra. It costs the government nothing.

Germany is leading the world in this. It has invested approximately US$20 billion in market stimulation in renewable energy including micro-generation initiatives to initially kick start and maintain industry growth over the last decade.

The majority of that investment is not in capital grants, subsidies or handouts but in regulated feed in tariffs. Now the renewables industry (especially in solar) contributes significantly to the German economy, employing 250,000, generating 10% of its power and saving 115m tonnes of CO2 emissions a year. 

The political will in Germany was strong. Law changes required businesses to buy energy generated from renewable sources first before buying energy from non-renewable sources. Then those who produce energy in their own homes with micro-generation were guaranteed by the government that they could sell or export their excess power to the national grid at fixed prices for a period of 20 years. This created the revolution in the production of clean energy at a micro level which led to the rest of the EU following suit.

In our region Australia is the leading innovator. Just last month New South Wales became the latest state to introduce a feed-in tariff, joining most other states. The stage is set there for an explosion in the uptake of small scale renewables.

We believe there is not only a compelling energy argument; there is an equally attractive economic argument. There is no reason why we can’t create a world class industry.

We have innovators busy now. For example, at the University of Waikato’s, School of Engineering, led by Dr Mike Duke, a team is developing a low concentration photovoltaic concentrator that is actively water cooled. Concentrators generate huge power by focusing the sun’s rays. At  Powerhouse Wind Bill Currie and his team have designed and are developing a unique single blade wind turbine that is incredibly innovative, functional and effective.

There is no reason why a country as sunny as Australia, and far sunnier than Germany, certainly much windier, can’t seize the opportunities. We are working hard to develop our case to take to the new government over the next few months.

ends