MP shouldn’t be an oil and gas lobbyist
In the Taranaki Daily News of Monday, December 3, Jonathan Young continues to promote the wonderments and benefits of burning more natural gas.
The rethinking he calls for needs to be on his part. How does Jonathan Young expect to achieve a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 if we continue to burn more gas, both in the existing gas-burning power plants and in the proposed new 8 Rivers Allam Cycle plant?
More electricity generated from wind and solar sources is the viable and necessary solution to some of our greenhouse gas problems. Burning more gas will simply produce a bigger problem to be tackled in the 2030s and 2040s.
The article states that ‘‘the Government needs to enable carbon capture and storage so that natural gas can become a truly clean fuel’’. I doubt that there is any significant regulatory barrier which has prevented carbon capture and storage up to the present time.
Rather, it has been a matter of economics and energy efficiency, together with an industry reluctance to act on climate change, which has resulted in no carbon capture and storage. If any new regulation is needed, then why is it not already in place, after nine years of a National Government?
Jonathan Young says ‘‘gas is needed not just for industrial users but it is also important for electricity generation’’.
Fair enough up to a point, but also somewhat misleading. There will be more gas available for industrial and domestic users, available for a much longer period, if we stop wasting it to produce electricity.
Currently, about 20 per cent of our generating capacity is based on coal, oil and gas, which together supply about 15 per cent of our total electricity supply. Over time, it will easily be possible to install 2000 to 3000 megawatts of wind power and up to 1000MW of solar power, more than enough to replace the existing 1800MW which can currently be generated by diesel, coal and gas.
It is true that the wind does not always blow and the sun does not always shine, but this is a problem that is easy to solve thanks to our abundant hydro resources. With the provision of adequate wind and solar power capacity, it will be possible to conserve water in the hydro system for electricity supply when the wind is not blowing. In order to supply likely higher peak loads from the hydro system, it will be necessary to install extra generators at some of the hydro powerhouses. This will enable higher short-term peak supply without any increase in total water flow through the hydro systems.
This is the sort of rethinking which is needed, not the ‘‘8 Rivers burn more gas’’-type of thinking. If these proposals are not economically viable, then that is proof that the market is failing and the Government may need to step in to achieve what the energy industries have, so far, failed to do.
Finally, there is the argument that the 8 Rivers scheme will provide much-needed employment. It would be better to provide employment by means of alternative, environmentally acceptable developments than by continued flogging of the dead horse which the oil and gas industry will become.
Construction of 15 or 20 Waverly-size wind farms will provide considerable employment, as will the installation of 10,000 solar panels on commercial and industrial buildings throughout New Zealand.
It is time for our local MP to stop acting as a lobbyist for the oil and gas sector and start thinking seriously and realistically about the climate legacy for our grandchildren.
Colin Bell
New Plymouth