Bioenergy Suggested to Meet Power Demands

Too much reliance on electricity from the national grid was high risk, Bioenergy Association executive officer Brian Cox said.

Last Friday’s power supply alert in New Zealand showed the need for a more resilient energy supply system, a biofuels advocate says.

National grid operator Transpower warned demand could exceed supply during last Friday’s morning peak amid freezing temperatures, and so it asked customers to conserve energy.

Too much reliance on electricity from the national grid was high risk, Bioenergy Association executive officer Brian Cox said.

“We will get more and more of these if we don’t think about total energy rather than thinking electricity,” he said.

“I’m not saying biomass should be used all the time, it shouldn’t, but it should be in the right place and for the right situation.”

He said mid-winter electricity shortages could become more common if New Zealand relied too much on electricity for its energy supply and Friday’s alert showed a need for more energy alternatives. “We need to move away from thinking everything needs to be supplied from an electricity source, we have to move away from everything coming from large energy providers because many businesses can do this themselves.” Bioenergy comes from harvested trees and plants, known as biomass.

Mr Cox said it was an energy alternative for businesses, to use local suppliers or even make biogas from their own processed residues.