1. Introduction

Submission on Wind Farms and the District Plan: Issues and Options Report

[ Last Updated 12 January 2006 ]

1.1 The Ministry of Economic Development (MED) is pleased to have the opportunity to make a submission to the committee jointly with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) on the Wind Farms and the District Plan: Issues and Options Report (the Report).

1.2 MED's comments today are centred on the role of renewable energy sources in the national energy supply mix and in light of key government energy objectives.

1.3 Renewable energy makes a major contribution to New Zealand's primary energy supply and a particularly large contribution to our electricity generation.¹

1.4 Although hydro and geothermal energy have been the major primary renewable sources, wind is an increasingly viable energy source for New Zealand. The uptake of wind energy will contribute to security of supply through "diversification" in electricity generation. Additionally, wind energy, and renewables more broadly, are an environmentally responsible alternative to using fossil fuels for generation.²

1.5 The government, in a number of key policy documents, has outlined the importance of renewables in New Zealand's future energy mix. A brief description of these will place the Ministry's and EECA's comments today in a wider context.

¹Renewables generated 68.5% electricity in the MYE 2003 and provided 28.9% of primary energy supply in 2002 (Ministry of Economic Development, Energy Data File, July 2003).

²The Ministry acknowledges that there are also environmental impacts of renewable energy developments, which need to be managed. Our comment here concerns the advantages that renewables have as lower emitters of greenhouse gases.