Power Cuts

Bernard Hickey blogs on looming power cuts:

Transpower Chief Executive Patrick Strange said in announcing the launch of a new website to inform the public on lake levels and power usage that compulsory power cuts were possible within three weeks if there was no significant rainfall or a large power station went off line.

The sad thing with this, is it is all preventable. The RMA slows down massively the construction of new renewable energy plants. That is why 75% to 90% of new capacity has been thermal.

This is why a ban on new thermal is very risky. Look absolutely we should be heading towards renewables, but until we have a consenting process that allows renewable power plants to be agreed to in less than half a decade, then it may be a choice between widespread power cuts over some years or another thermal power station.

So my challenge to the Greens is to support RMA changes that will stop NIMBY types massively slowing down or killing off renewable power projects.