Wave Power visit by NZ's Energy Minister

Energy Source & Distribution
Wednesday 1/8/2007 Page: 4

The New Zealand government is committed to making New Zealand the first country in the world to be truly sustainable and carbon neutral. "We're going to achieve this by promoting investment in renewable energy, cutting emissions and offsetting emissions that can't be practically avoided. New Zealand is already a world leader in clean power, with 70 per cent of its electricity generation coming from renewable sources. A key enabler for this strategy is that New Zealand will devolve the cost of greenhouse gas emissions in electricity production to those that produce them.

"This sends a clear message to investors, cleaner technologies will cost less, and is a strategy that is already producing results. A number of major energy companies have set aside plans for new fossil fuel fired power stations to spend billions on renewable energy such as wind and geothermal projects. We want to extend the mix to include marine energy," said David Parker.

Marine energy is an emerging technology and developers commonly point to limited funding for new technologies as a barrier to their wider deployment. The Marine Energy Fund seeks to address this.

"The government used Kyoto Protocol mechanisms to advance the development of wind energy in New Zealand. The marine energy fund is designed to achieve similar results in marine electricity." Officials at the Ministry of Economic Development and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) are currently developing criteria to assess applications for the Fund. Further information on how to apply will be available from the EECA website later this year.