Industry | Energy |
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Headquarters | Motueka , |
Area served | |
Website | www.nzenergy.co.nz |
New Zealand Energy is a New Zealand electricity generation energy retailer company, servicing the Nelson and Tasman Regions of the country. [1]
The company is based in Motueka, and generates their renewable hydro and solar electricity locally within the Nelson and Tasman Regions by operating small hydroelectric power stations in Haast, Fox, Ōpunake and Raetihi.
In August 2008, NZ Energy proposed to build a 4.6 MW hydroelectric scheme at Lake Matiri near Murchison, Nelson. [2] They gained the necessary resource consent in 2009, and Department of Conservation (DOC) concession in 2011, required to build, own, operate and maintain the scheme. [3] Pioneer Energy purchased the development rights in 2014, [4] and construction of the scheme began in 2018. [5] While the Matiri hydro scheme was expected to be operational by the end of 2019, the construction was delayed by a slip on the Matiri West Bank Road near Murchison in August 2019, [6] and the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic. The scheme officially opened in December 2020, capable of generating 28 GWh annually - enough to power just under 4000 homes. [7]
In 2023, the company applied for consent to build a second hydro power station on the Turnbull River, to increase the supply to the Haast region. [8]
Meridian Energy Limited is a New Zealand electricity generator and retailer. The company generates the largest proportion of New Zealand's electricity, generating 35 percent of the country's electricity in the year ending December 2014, and is the fourth largest retailer, with 14 percent of market share in terms of customers as of December 2015.
Manapōuri Power Station is an underground hydroelectric power station on the western arm of Lake Manapouri in Fiordland National Park, in the South Island of New Zealand. At 854 MW installed capacity, it is the largest hydroelectric power station in New Zealand, and the second largest power station in New Zealand. The station is noted for the controversy and environmental protests by the Save Manapouri Campaign against raising the level of Lake Manapouri to increase the station's hydraulic head, which galvanised New Zealanders and was one of the foundations of the New Zealand environmental movement.
Haast is a small town in the Westland District territorial authority on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. The township is beside the Haast River, 3 kilometres (2 mi) south of Haast Junction, on State Highway 6. The Haast region is in Te Wahipounamu – The South West New Zealand World Heritage, a UNESCO World Heritage Site designated in 1990.
Murchison is a town in the Tasman Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is near the western end of the "Four Rivers Plain", at the confluence of the Buller River and the Mātakitaki River. The other two rivers are the Mangles River, and the Matiri River. It is a rural service town for the surrounding mixed farming district, approximately halfway between Westport and Nelson. Murchison was named after the Scottish geologist Roderick Murchison, one of the founders of the Royal Geographical Society.
The Matiri River is a river located in the northwest of New Zealand's South Island. The river is in the Tasman Region.
The Turnbull River is a short river on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It flows northwest from the Southern Alps for 22 kilometres (14 mi), entering the Tasman Sea at the northern end of Jackson Bay, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of Haast. The Turnbull shares its mouth with the Okuru River.
The Mātakitaki River is located in the north of New Zealand's South Island. An upper tributary of the Buller River, it flows north and west for 65 kilometres from its source north of the Lewis Pass, joining the Buller at Murchison. It has one major tributary, the Glenroy River.
Mercury NZ Limited is a New Zealand electricity generation and multi-product utility retailer of electricity, gas, broadband and mobile telephone services. All the company's electricity generation is renewable. Mercury has a pre-paid electricity product sub-brand GLOBUG. Mercury Energy is also the largest electricity retailer in New Zealand.
Contact Energy Limited is a New Zealand electricity generator, a wholesaler of natural gas, and a retailer of electricity, natural gas, broadband and LPG.
Wind power constitutes a small but growing proportion of New Zealand's electricity. As of November 2023, wind power accounts for 1,059 MW of installed capacity and over 6 percent of electricity generated in the country.
The electricity sector in New Zealand uses mainly renewable energy, such as hydropower, geothermal power and increasingly wind energy. As of 2021, the country generated 81.2% of its electricity from renewable sources. The strategy of electrification is being pursued to enhance the penetration of renewable energy sources and to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across all sectors of the economy. In 2021, electricity consumption reached 40 terawatt-hours (TW⋅h), representing a 0.2% increase compared to the consumption levels in 2010.
Hydroelectric power in New Zealand has been a part of the country's energy system for over 100 years and continues to provide more than half of the country's electricity needs. Hydroelectricity is the primary source of renewable energy in New Zealand. Power is generated the most in the South Island and is used most in the North Island.
The Matiri Project is a run-of-river hydroelectric scheme at Lake Matiri and the Matiri River in the South Island of New Zealand. The project takes water from a series of intake weirs at Lake Matiri and pipes it through a 2.4 km long buried pipeline to a power station.
The Arnold Power Station is a hydroelectric facility fed from Lake Brunner on the Arnold River in West Coast, New Zealand, owned and operated by TrustPower. Commissioned in 1932, the plant is rated at 3 megawatts (4,000 hp) and has an average annual output of 25 gigawatt-hours (90 TJ).
The Cobb Power Station is a hydroelectric facility on the Cobb River, in the Tasman District of New Zealand. The power station is located in Upper Tākaka, 112 km (70 mi) northwest of Nelson. Annual generation is approximately 190 gigawatt-hours (680 TJ). The initial stages of the construction of the station began as a privately-funded scheme in 1935, but the investor failed to raise the necessary capital. The national government took over building the station and the first power was produced in 1944, operating as a run-of-river station. A storage dam was completed in 1954. The resulting hydro lake is the highest in the country and at 596 m (1,955 ft), the station has New Zealand's highest hydraulic head of any power station.
Solar power in New Zealand is increasing in capacity, despite no government subsidies or interventions being available. As of the end of April 2024, New Zealand has 420 MW of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) solar power installed, of which 146 MW (35%) was installed in the last 12 months. In the 12 months to December 2023, 372 gigawatt-hours of electricity was estimated to have been generated by grid-connected solar, 0.85% of all electricity generated in the country.
The Pupu Hydro Power Scheme is a small hydroelectric power station near Tākaka in the Golden Bay region of the South Island of New Zealand. It opened in 1929 as the first power station in the region and was the first public electricity supply in Golden Bay. After closing in 1980 following damage to the generator, the power scheme was fully restored by the local Pupu Hydro Society and many volunteer groups over the course of seven years and re-opened in 1988, again supplying electricity to the national grid.
Springs Junction is a small settlement and road junction in the West Coast region of New Zealand. It lies at the junction of State Highway 7 and State Highway 65, 45 km (28 mi) east of Reefton, on the main route between Christchurch and the Nelson, Tasman and Buller districts.
Tarakohe, in older sources referred to as Terekohe, is a locality in the Tasman District of New Zealand's upper South Island, located east of Pōhara in Golden Bay.