| Title | 2015 New Zealand Country Update |
|---|---|
| Authors | Brian CAREY, Mike DUNSTALL, Spence MCCLINTOCK, Brian WHITE, Greg BIGNALL, Katherine LUKETINA, Bridget ROBSON, Sadiq ZARROUK, Anya SEWARD |
| Year | 2015 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | New Zealand, geothermal, geothermal energy, 2015, New Zealand country update, electricity, heat, direct geothermal use, geothermal heat pumps |
| Abstract | New Zealand has seen a period of rapid growth in the utilization of geothermal energy over the last 10 years, particularly for electricity generation. The availability of high temperature, productive geothermal resources has seen geothermal development being the lowest cost electricity generation facilities to construct and operate (on an energy unit cost basis) compared to other renewable energy or fossil-fuelled options. The increment in geothermal electricity generation from 2010 to 2014 of about 1500 GWh is significant, being greater than a 20% per annum increase in the level of geothermal generation over this four year period. There is a total of over 1000 MWe of installed geothermal electricity generation capacity which is typically contributing about 16% of national electricity generation (c.f. 13% in 2010) in an electricity system dominated by renewable generation. New Zealand currently produces about 75% of its electricity from renewable energy sources and is strategically targeting 90% renewable electricity by 2025. Post 2013 there has been a hiatus in construction of geothermal power generation capacity in New Zealand due to flat electricity demand growth. The New Zealand geothermal operators are focusing on sustaining and maintaining existing developments, looking to share experience partnering in international developments and investigating some new prospects. Several New Zealand companies have invested significantly in large scale industrial direct geothermal energy applications in the last five years including; Ngati Tuwharetoa Geothermal Assets Limited supplying the Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget tissue mill at Kawerau, and Tuaropaki supplying clean steam generated from geothermal energy to the Miraka milk powder processing plant at Mokai. Despite these new developments, there has been a reduction in geothermal direct use overall since 2010, primarily a consequence of Norske Skog Tasman closing one of the paper production lines at its Kawerau facility in January 2013. There is more that needs to be done in New Zealand to further foster direct geothermal heat use, and the uptake of geothermal heat pumps, and these are discussed in the paper. With the significant development that has gone on in New Zealand over the last decade the science and engineering around geothermal resource development is at the leading edge of geothermal technology and its implementation. This paper identifies Geothermal New Zealand as a connector to this pool of quality expertise. This paper discusses the developments in the New Zealand geothermal sector since the New Zealand update paper was presented at the 2010 World Geothermal Congress in Bali, Indonesia (Harvey et al 2010). The text discusses direct heat utilisation, electricity generation, environmental and regulatory aspects, personnel, training and investment. The paper includes the tables requested by the International Geothermal Association for inclusion in the country update papers. |