Tag: wind

The wind in their sails

Good analysis of NZ’s current climate politics by Colin James in today’s Herald:

Having dawdled for seven years, in part because of strong adverse public opinion, the Government is now racing to make up time. Officials who have been frustrated by conflicting signals from the Beehive – wanting bold, imaginative policies but subordinating them repeatedly to number-crunching with minor parties – are now under the whip.

Big shifts in international markets are also blowing businesses along:

That sea-change offshore – coupled with a big public opinion shift here – has moved business opinion in this country. As a senior National MP says, “Politicians are struggling to stay up. Business is pushing past them.

Getting windy in the front row

All Black hooker Anton Oliver’s been putting the boot into Meridian Energy’s plans to build a 176-turbine windfarm on the Lammermore Range near Dunedin, called Project Hayes. Oliver, and notables such as poet Brian Turner, don’t like the potential damage to the landscape, but Oliver’s been doing some research:

“When you look at the practicalities and economics of wind farms overseas, Meridian’s and the Government’s claims that this wind farm will ensure security of supply and help Mr and Mrs Consumer are quite outrageous,�’ Oliver said. “Meridian’s campaign seems to have been one of half truths, misinformation and fudging information. The more I have looked into it, the more this has seemed to me tantamount to a Government-sanctioned corporate rort.�”

Right. Thanks for that compelling analysis, Anton. Meridian CEO Keith Turner wasn’t much impressed either:

Turner, a veteran of the electricity industry, said: “Anton’s entitled to his view. He’s a great All Black, but is he a great energy analyst?�” Lots of Oliver’s ideas were flawed, he said. “I wouldn’t want to develop a power system around Anton’s ideas …�”

Meanwhile, a lot closer to Hot Topic‘s home, plans by Mainpower for a windfarm on Mt Cass, overlooking the Waipara Valley, will prove an interesting test case for the author because the site is slap in the middle of the view from his veranda. I shall therefore be following developments closely. Will I turn into an All Black hooker or noted poet? Or an apologist for the power men? How will my neighbours respond? We live in interesting times…

Aussie carbon trading: big bikkies for grandad?

John Howard’s Task Group on Emissions Trading has produced its report [PDF]. It concludes that an emissions trading regime is the way forward for Australia, but fails to suggest targets. It’s a very useful overview of how carbon trading mechanisms might be made to work, but has clearly been hamstrung by the current political realities in Australia. It remains to be seen how John Howard, with his noted aversion to targets for greenhouse gas reductions will handle setting up a trading scheme if re-elected – or how he will be able to ignore section 7.2.1.

Adopting a credible long-term aspirational goal for national emissions reduction is critical. It sets the framework for Australia’s overall abatement efforts. Such a goal could be described in terms of the percentage reduction in emissions from a particular point in time, or in terms of the maximum number of tonnes of CO2-e that Australia is aiming to emit by a particular year.

Some Aussie press coverage here and here. Science Alert commentary here. The Australian Stock Exchange is slavering at the bit.

The scope for handouts to industry through grandfathering, as has effectively happened in Europe, is huge. BBC Radio 4’s File On Four claims that the EU’s carbon trading scheme has increased electricity bills, given a windfall to power companies and failed to cut greenhouse gases:

Power generators received their allowances free of charge but were allowed to reflect the value of those in increased prices to customers, as if the companies had actually had to buy the allowances. Energywatch believes this increased electricity bills by about 7% in 2005. And according to one government estimate, that delivered windfall profits of up to £1.3bn to the generators in that year – higher than environmental campaigners had claimed last year.

No Right Turn has an interesting post on how this problem might be addressed in NZ, warning that badly set up emissions trading schemes amount to taxpayer handouts to emitters.

NZ Windfarms $75m share offer oversubscribed

The Press reports that NZ Windfarms is having no trouble finding investors for a new share issue:

“Chairman Derek Walker said a 40 per cent oversubscription – excluding a cornerstone stake taken by electricity network company Vector and a pool of shares for existing shareholders – meant that demand from institutions would be scaled back.