Gerry Brownlee

19 May, 2009
Awatea Speech

Hon Gerry Brownlee

Minister of Energy and Resources

Speech to the Aotearoa Wave and Tidal Energy Annual Conference

19 May 2009 9 am

Introduction

It gives me great pleasure to open the Aotearoa Wave and Tidal Energy Association's third annual conference today, with the theme ‘Making Waves'.

It is great to see a strong turn out today, in an industry which is still in its infancy, but has enthusiastic and hard-working proponents.

Gatherings like this are a great opportunity to make contacts and share knowledge, and I'm sure you will make the most of the sessions today.

I would like to use my time today to outline the government's thoughts on renewable energy and marine energy in particular.

And I am pleased to be able to announce the recipient of the second round of the government's Marine Energy Deployment Fund.

But as the day's first speaker, I felt it would be useful for me to start by briefly summarising the progress made by marine energy in New Zealand and internationally - how far we've come, and where we are headed.

Marine energy overseas

Some of you may have seen comments by UK marine energy expert Henry Jeffrey when he was in New Zealand as part of the panel for the Marine Energy Deployment Fund.

He noted that for a long time, even international presentations on marine energy had to rely on concept drawings.

Now, however, we are seeing photos of actual projects, off the drawing board, into the water, and producing electricity.

I think that sums up well the progress marine energy is making.

In fact, more than 200 companies worldwide are developing wave and tidal energy solutions.

One of the European initiatives is Seagen, the world's first commercial-scale grid-connected tidal stream turbine, which has the capacity to produce 1.2 megawatts.

This was deployed in Northern Ireland in April last year, and has been feeding electricity onto the grid since July.

Irish company OpenHydro installed a 250kW open-centre tidal turbine at the European Marine Energy Centre off Orkney in Scotland and successfully connected it to the UK electricity grid in May last year.

It paves the way for a significant tidal power development in the Channel Islands sometime this year.

I'm pleased to see that once again, those at the forefront of marine energy development are attending the AWATEA conference.

Voith Hydro from Germany, and Wavegen from the UK, are both presenting later today.

Their business partnership represents real and significant progress in the commercialisation of the marine energy industry.

Their technical developments are supported by their relationship with RWE Innogy, one of Europe's largest energy companies.

Together they have a joint venture to develop and test a 110 kilowatt seabed-mounted turbine off the Korean coast, which if successful, will lead to a 600MW project.

New Zealand's marine resource

New Zealand has world-class renewable energy resources.

We already generate an impressive 65 percent of our electricity from the renewable sources: hydro, geothermal and wind.

I'm sure marine energy will be added to our portfolio of renewable generators in the future.

An initial assessment of our marine energy resource indicates potential for around 8000 megawatts of generation capacity.

Obviously more work needs to be done on the nature and size of this resource, but given our present total electricity generation capacity is around 9000 megawatts, it's clear that marine energy has the potential to significantly contribute to New Zealand's long term energy needs.

A focus of this government is security of electricity supply. One component of that is diversity of electricity generation sources. Marine energy could have an important role to play in making sure our lights stay on throughout the coming century.

Marine energy projects in New Zealand

Perhaps in recognition of the resources we have available in New Zealand, there is a high level of activity in the marine space.

I understand there are around 26 domestic marine energy projects that have been proposed in the last four years, ranging from conceptual ideas, to university research projects, to deployment projects.

Around 20 of those are devices, and they are evenly balanced between local developments, and imported technologies.

One of these projects is led by Crest Energy, which was the recipient of last year's round of the Marine Energy Deployment Fund.

Crest Energy's proposal is to deploy tidal stream generators at the entrance to the Kaipara Harbour, north of Auckland.

That application is before the Environment Court now.

It's encouraging to see this much activity in this industry. Obviously there will be trial and error both here and overseas as technologies and methods are tested and proven.

But the more activity, the faster we can establish what works, and move forward with confidence.

Government support for marine energy

The government, through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, is helping develop marine energy potential.

One important thing we do is support the marine energy industry association, AWATEA, which enables conferences like this to occur.

We have supported research. EECA, along with the Electricity Commission and the Greater Wellington Regional Council, have helped fund a substantial report on marine activity in New Zealand, and its potential.

And of course there is the Marine Energy Deployment Fund, which offers $8 million dollars over four years to support the deployment of marine energy devices in New Zealand.

There may be other ways New Zealand can ‘ride the wave' of marine energy development, and provide value to the international market place for this maturing technology.

Grow Wellington clean energy centre of excellence

For example, as part of their Sustainable Energy Strategy, the Wellington regional economic development agency, Grow Wellington, is proposing to establish a marine energy centre of excellence on Wellington's south coast.

As the project's proponents point out, the location has many advantages.

It is close to leading research institutes and universities focused on the technology.

A deep water port in very close proximity to a world class tidal current resource is in the Cook Strait

And energy companies and support businesses accustomed to renewable energy generation, delivery and support, are nearby.

Such a venture could include a marine energy testing venue.

Globally there are already a small but growing number of marine energy testing centres.

The first and most comprehensive is the European Marine Energy Centre in northern Scotland, led by Neil Kermode who is visiting Wellington at this time.

However, none are in the southern hemisphere and only one is currently planned for the Pacific area on the west coast of the USA.

I know Grow Wellington is keen to form a partnership with the European Marine Energy Centre, to develop a facility that would allow New Zealand to position itself as a leading southern hemisphere player in this emerging marine tidal energy industry.

Government policy

This leads nicely into what I'd like to say about our government's energy policies.

As you may know, we are currently reviewing the New Zealand Energy Strategy.

The National-led Government believes a refocusing of the Energy Strategy is required.

The new strategy will focus on security of supply, affordability, and environmental responsibility, with the overriding goal of maximising economic growth.

The strategy will encourage investors to develop more electricity generation, particularly from renewable sources, and marine energy fits into this picture.

The update of the Energy Strategy is underway and I expect to be able to release it later this year.

Supporting renewable energy in New Zealand

One of the things this government is doing to support renewable energy in New Zealand is by providing grants for biodiesel production.

I am announcing today that this year's Budget will allocate $36 million over three years to domestic biodiesel producers.

Greenhouse gas emissions from transport make up almost half of our energy emissions.

By supporting biodiesel production in New Zealand, we can help get a new industry up and running, which can provide jobs for New Zealanders, at the same time as helping to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Round two of the MEDF

It is now my pleasure to announce the recipient of the second round of funding from the Marine Energy Deployment Fund.

The recipient was selected by an expert panel. I would like to thank them for their involvement in the selection process. The panel members are:

* Gerry Te Kapa Coates

* Melanie Nadeau

* Dr Edward Hudson

* Henry Jeffrey, and

* Dr David Hume

In awarding the funding, the Panel was asked to look for projects that had commercial potential and community support, and that provided us with useful information on the costs and benefits, including environmental and socio-economic impacts.

We received four applications for funding this round.

The successful candidate intends to build on their New Zealand-designed and engineered prototype that was launched off Wellington's coast last year.

The project is to construct and deploy a pre-commercial half-scale device.

I am pleased to announce that as part of this year's funding round, $760,000 will go to WET-NZ, a project run by Power Projects Ltd, and Industrial Research Limited.

Our judges commented that the WET-NZ project has a logical, staged development approach to their technology, as well as an experienced project team.

In addition to the technical merits of this project, the Intellectual Property generated will reside in New Zealand.

And WET-NZ will primarily be designing and manufactured in New Zealand.

I congratulate WET-NZ for their successful application and wish them well in now going ahead and developing their proposal.

Applications for round three of approximately $2.4m will open on Friday 31 July 2009 and will close on Monday 23 November 2009.

Conclusion

New Zealand is an island nation surrounded by wave and tidal patterns that indicate, marine energy has a bright future in this country.

I would like to thank you for your commitment to making it happen.

I hope you enjoy your conference and come away feeling excited and inspired by the presentations you see today.

ENDS

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