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10 min ago 2 min read
The New Zealand government has shortlisted two LNG import terminal providers as it seeks to plug energy shortage forecasts and boost security.
Speaking at the Auckland Business Chamber, Energy Minister Simeon Brown confirmed both providers are proposing solutions at Port Taranaki on the west coast of the North Island.
The government expects to identify a preferred provider later this year, and the import facility could be operational by 2028.
“While New Zealand is on a significant renewable energy trajectory, the government has confirmed that imported LNG is still the fastest, cheapest and most flexible source of back-up energy to keep the lights on when we need a back-up to weather dependent-renewable energy,” according to a Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment statement.
“Officials’ analysis confirms that the conflict in the Middle East has not changed that. Given the urgent state of New Zealand’s declining domestic natural gas supply, the next dry year without LNG will bring higher power bills, potential factory closures and job losses, and rolling blackouts across the country.”
The import facility will no longer be funded by a levy but through a funding model guided by the principle that ‘responsibility for delivering secure and affordable energy sits with the electricity sector’. The plans were unveiled .
Minister Brown said New Zealand was grappling with shortfall of 1.5TWh in forecast energy supply.
“It’s not a gap that can be plugged with a few days of stored water or a handful of batteries – it’s a sustained gap, lasting weeks and months, and something has to fill it,” he said.
“Importing LNG isn’t a retreat from our commitment to renewable energy – it supports it and won’t replace it. A diversified gas supply helps keep electricity prices down.”
