Post by CrashPost by Rich80105Post by CrashPost by Gordonhttps://www.stuff.co.nz/business/350376711/gas-shortage-proves-its-time-cross-party-energy-strategy-new-plymouth-mayor
Another article giving a rev up to the people in Government, ie both/all
sides/parties, for not doing their job and keeping the eyes off the ball.
The gas supply is so short that Methanex is closing doing for a few months
and selling its gas to the power generators, and the aluminium smelter has
cut its producing so that the water can go to the power generation.
Genesis is piling coal to 350,000 tonnes at Huntley. (The nearby plants are
celebrating the good times ahead).
With the gas supply reducing month by month it is going to be an interesting
winter. Until then all bets are off that the lights will stay on.
A 30-year bi-partisan agreement is just nonsensical and it is not
needed. We have certainly reached a crisis point with electricity
generation and it is up to the government of the day to make the tough
decisions.
This is exactly what has happened in the past, with National
governments making changes in the late 90s that were never changed by
the Labour Governments that Helen Clark was PM of, no did the National
governments with John Key as PM make any substantial changes and the
same applies to the Labour governments with Jacinda Ardern as PM..
Gas exploration in land has been going on for a few years without
success,
Really? From the limited research I have done there have not been any
land-based searches been done since the 1970s when the search moved to
offshore areas. The on-shore exploration was primarily based around
Kapuni and other small fields when the search was for oil rather than
gas. Feel free to correct me.
I don't have a reference, but there was an item on RNZ some time ago
that referred to exploration by the gas companies onshore in recent
years.
Post by CrashPost by Rich80105and both previous National-led and Labour-led governments
have not been able to get sufficient interest in sea exploration to
cover costs.
Perhaps because of PM Ardern's 'captains call' in April 2018 to ban
offshore exploration had an effect on that 'insufficient interest'.
No, that was after the previous government got no acceptable bids and
did not issue any permits in one round, and then the new Ardern
Government again got inadequate bids - one or other of those
governments had also had to deal with an abandoned rig that required
government money to make safe for shipping (by dismantling it). So it
was only after two succesful rounds that no areas were put up for
auction the next time. I haven't heard whether the current government
will allow permits to be issued - do you know?
Post by CrashPost by Rich80105There have been resource consents for wind and solar that
the generating companies are reluctant to proceed with - that would
probably reduce prices.
Are you serious? Wind and Solar combined cannot generate enough
electricity at all (let alone reliably enough to be base-load) to
affect prices. That is pure fantasy.
Wind and Solar are cheaper than using coal; anything that reduces the
need to fire up Huntly is worthwhile - but for the generators they
want to be able to use coal every so often to keep charges up for the
group. Those companies that are closing because of electricity supply
issues should be at least using roof tops for local generation - with
little transmission losses it does provide a reasonable commercial
return
Post by CrashPost by Rich80105The current government does not appear to have
any plans other than allowing more coal to be mined - that will
however not do much to stop prices increasing, and may not be enough
to maintain supply.
The current government is not proposing any changes to the structure
of the industry. Posters on nz.general do not appear to have any
suggestions.
Appearances deceive Rich. You should read a bit more widely about
what governments that are not of your preferred political orientation
have suggested. I agree that the current government has challenges,
but in looking for solutions they are not blinded by the political
biases of both the Greens and Labour.
I doubt that the different political parties are very different in
their wanting to seek improvements - but changing the structure of the
Bradford "reforms" to disrupt the effective cartel would be very very
expensive - handouts to landlords took the majority of what the
current government had to offer.
Post by CrashPost by Rich80105We live in interesting times - but its not all bad - the generating
companies are still making good profits . . . - why should the
government do anything?
Precisely why Labour governments of the past did nothing to jeopardise
the dividends from the gentailer dividends from those they still own.
That and their reluctance to inflation-adjust income tax brackets
(along with National).
Exactly - the expense of changing is considerable, so there is little
difference between the main parties - none of the minor parties on
either side have expressed any interest in buying out some of the
private shareholders . . .
Post by CrashThe Government has indicated concern at current electricity prices. I
expect they will be forced to take action, and soon.
As I said in an earlier post, I have not seen any suggestions anywhere
that would not be very expensive . . .