How data centres can attract investment to New Zealand - Catherine Beard

详细摘要

"No country has become wealthy without affordable and reliable energy. We are fortunate that in New Zealand it can be renewable as well," says Catherine Beard, director of…

"No country has become wealthy without affordable and reliable energy. We are fortunate that in New Zealand it can be renewable as well," says Catherine Beard, director of advocacy at BusinessNZ.

We have all seen what happens to the New Zealand economy when energy becomes expensive. International disruption can drive up oil, diesel and jet fuel prices, while our gas fields running down or a dry year with low hydro lakes can put pressure on electricity supply and prices.

It hits the public in the pocket and it affects businesses too. Over the last five years, we have seen large energy-intensive businesses in pulp and paper, wood processing and food manufacturing, which are also major regional employers, shut up shop or scale back, with the loss of thousands of jobs when you add them all up. And we are not out of the woods yet.

So how do we turn it around? If we can attract investment into enough new renewables to give New Zealand affordable, reliable and sustainable energy, what businesses could we attract to use that energy, and what jobs and export earnings could we create?

BusinessNZ believes plentiful renewable energy could be a superpower for our economy. But to get investment in new generation, we also need customers for the electricity. Large, long-term energy users can become cornerstone customers, helping to de-risk investment and give generators the confidence to build.

There are a few key pillars to making that happen: regulatory predictability, reducing sovereign risk from political flip-flops, bans or threats to break up companies; welcoming overseas investment rules; and cornerstone energy users that can commit to taking a portion of the energy.

There are encouraging signs that investment is happening. Electricity gentailers are building new renewable generation at a fast pace, with 17 projects representing around 30% of additional generation on what we currently have.

Consumers may not be seeing prices come down as much just yet because generation is only…

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