Record Wind Generation For September Quarter

Increased capacity helped with record electricity generation from wind between July and September 2023, according to data released today by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

“Electricity generation from wind reached 920 GWh this quarter, a 19.1 per cent increase on the same quarter in 2022. This was aided by strong winds and increased capacity with Mercury’s Turitea Wind Farm in the Tararua Ranges becoming fully operational at the end of June,” says Mike Hayward, Manager Markets in the Digital, Data and Insights group within MBIE.

“Overall, the share of electricity generation by renewable sources for the quarter was 84.1 per cent, a drop of 5.5 percentage points on the same period last year. Hydro generation decreased 10.6 percent due to lower rainfall and planned outages at hydroelectric plants.

“To meet demand, electricity generation from coal increased by 90 per cent and from gas by 47 per cent when compared to the previous September quarter. This contributed to a 64.4 per cent increase in greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation.

“Jet fuel use continued to increase this quarter as domestic and international tourism rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic downturn.”

MBIE has made improvements to quarterly reporting of energy-related emissions. Emissions from electricity generation are separated by gas type (CO2, CH4 and N2O) to allow a distinction to be made between short-lived and long-lived greenhouse gases. Grid-average electricity generation emission factors have also been added to provide timelier data to organisations who wish to estimate their indirect emissions associated with consumption of electricity from the national grid.

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New Zealand Energy Quarterly

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