Offshore wind power or seabed mining - Taranaki may not be able to have both

Thursday, 21 March 2024

A seabed mining proposal in the South Taranaki Bight could be a roadblock to the massive potential for multi-billion dollar offshore wind developments.

The South Taranaki Bight is rated fifth best in the world for its wind resource, partnerships director for Bluefloat Energy and the Elemental Group, Justine Gilliland, said.

But a proposal by Trans-Tasman Resources Ltd to mine the seabed in the South Taranaki Bight, which is currently being assessed by a decision-making committee from the Environment Protection Authority, could hamper the new industry.

“It would make it significantly harder,” Gilliland said.

“If it [the seabed mining permit] is in the same space, they’re not compatible, if it’s in adjacent areas there will still be some issues we’d need to work through.

“If you have offshore wind with cables, you can’t have seabed mining, we would have to look at whether offshore wind could operate with it, it would certainly bring complications and challenges.”

Six developers are making plans to build offshore wind farms off the South Taranaki coast, projects that will cost billions each.

It is anticipated the Government will have a long-awaited regulatory framework in place this year, with feasibility permits from mid-2025.

An offshore wind energy industry could play a critical role in helping New Zealand meet net zero targets, while contributing nearly $50 billion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and creating 10,000 jobs, a report released at the Offshore Renewable Energy Forum in Hāwera yesterday.

Gilliland said the national offshore wind energy industry impacts study, was the first to pull together all aspects of how much renewable energy would be needed for the country to reach the climate goals it has signed up to.

New Zealand will need to triple the volume of renewable energy generated to meet its net zero targets.

Offshore wind offers one of the most credible pathways to increase generation at scale in conjunction with other technologies, the industry-funded study found.

“If we genuinely want to hit net zero, this is what we have to do in terms of renewable generation in New Zealand,” she said.

New Zealand First Minister Shane Jones, who spoke to the forum via audio link, said there would be tradeoffs as to where offshore wind developments may be located.

Jones, who is Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, Regional Development, Resources, Associate Minister of Finance and Associate Minister for Energy, said the “crystallisation” delivered by the study would “throw forward the issues”.

“There will be some tradeoffs that have to be made , you live in the domain of Māui’s dolphin. There are already existing consents in place, not the least of which is a permit of a certain nature belonging to the mineral company Trans-Tasman,” he said.

“There will be some tradeoffs to where offshore capacity might be located.”

He said the current Fast Track Bill was the first of three stages to reform the Resource Management Act.

Some of the $1.2bn in the Regional Infrastructure Fund would be directed to Taranaki, he said, although it would not be large enough to ride out the costs of what land-based infrastructure might be needed to expedite the capacity of offshore wind.

The Government wanted to see clean energy development accelerated, he said.

“We are not in a position to offer subsidies. There is no Cabinet mandate to guarantee a minimum price, but there is a willingness to create a regimes that enables such legitimate enterprises to be consented, sooner rather than later.”