Overview
Taranaki is uniquely positioned to lead New Zealand’s transition to a low-emissions energy future. The region is New Zealand’s largest exporter of energy; and energy contributes a quarter of the region’s economic output.
When combined with the region’s world-class energy infrastructure assets, well-developed global networks, and progressive local authority leadership, Taranaki has quality, well-established features that new energy investment can quickly and easily leverage. It also has more than 7,000 highly skilled people working in the energy and supply chain sector, holding a wealth of expertise and knowledge.
The Government has allocated $7 million per year to establish Ara Ake (formerly the National New Energy Development Centre) in Taranaki. The mission of Ara Ake is to facilitate New Zealand’s energy transition to a low-emissions future through fostering a new energy eco-system, leveraging national and global knowledge and expertise to reduce the time, cost and risk associated with the development and commercialisation of new energy innovation.
The Government has also allocated a further $50 million for research into cutting-edge energy technology, including organic photovoltaics, super conductors, nanotechnologies and inductive power. In addition, there is ongoing government support for initiatives to leverage Taranaki’s existing infrastructure assets; for example, re-purposing the gas pipeline owned by First Gas for hydrogen distribution.
The investment from central government and the support of Taranaki’s local authorities provides the private and research sectors with assurance of the commitment and intent to develop commercially viable new energy solutions for New Zealand and export. The energy sector will not be immune to the effects of COVID-19 and the global oil price reductions, but there are significant opportunities to accelerate the pursuit of innovation in this field, with renewables and energy innovation and diversification a key focus, cementing Taranaki as a global leader in new energy development.
Further information about New Zealand’s current energy prices is available on the
Energy Market Overview website and the
Wholesale Information Trading System (WITS) website.