As consumers receive their winter power bills, many are puzzled and some are incensed that they are so high.
There is a simple answer: wholesale prices are elevated (they have been very high for some time and reached $215 a megawatt/hour last week).
And there’s a not-so-simple answer:
The latter relates to New Zealand’s complicated generating system which – to the casual observer looking at the power stations – inspires admiration at their construction, as for example on the Waikato river or at Benmore in the south.
NZ’s system generates more than 80 per cent of its power output from renewable sources, but under the Ardern government aims to get to 100 per cent to minimise carbon emissions.
As Australian consumers are finding out, however, closing down fossil fuel plants, and relying on renewable sources can send prices soaring and brings another set of headaches.
NZ has relied on the Huntly power station with its fossil-fuelled generators as a back-up to its renewable system, but as long ago as 2016 its operator, Genesis, signalled the coal-fired generators would be phased out by 2025. Continue reading “The lessons NZ can learn from Australia to guide energy policy and keep prices down”