AS any consumer knows, it always pays to play the field when it comes to getting work done around the house. Getting a few quotes is the safest way to ensure good craftsmanship and that you’re not out of pocket at the end, left high and dry by promises from fly-by-nighters. We can apply this common-sense test to our home, NZ Inc, when it comes to energy problems. An old diesel truck backfires its careening way round the corner. ``Peters & Jones – Proudly Putting NZ’s Energy First’’ can be seen on the side panel once the black smoke clears. After a quick fag break and a high-cost quote, the heavy drilling equipment on the lorry’s trailer rattles noisily as they’re sent packing amid their own emissions. But what’s this? A clean, white, noiseless electric van pulls up. ``Swarbrick and Davidson, at your service’’ they say, hopping down from the front and explaining how their plan for a renewable-powered economy and better future for all will be paid for by those who have plenty to spare. These two very different visions of how New Zealand will keep its lights on, make things and move them hither and thither have been unfurled in recent days. At its weekend campaign launch, NZ First rolled out an energy plan which leader Winston Peters said would make the country prosperous again. As you would expect from a party whose deputy leader and Resources Minister, Shane Jones, has made it perfectly clear that minerals and drilling are far more important than frogs and the environment, the party’s election policy is more mixed martial arts than wokeism. Mr Peters told delegates and supporters the time has come for New Zealand to harvest the benefits of the supposedly rich oil and natural gas fields which lie offshore. He compared the country’s possible reserves to those of Norway with North Sea oil, and claimed the chances of a major commercial find here were ``well above 90%’’, a figure which academics and other politicians have disputed. Using such a wealth of natural resources would make New Zealand secure and prosperous, Mr Peters said. The country had 10 prospective basins of global potential, which was why NZ First was campaigning on putting an initial $1 billion into a national subsurface development survey. Unfortunately for NZ First there are uncomfortable truths hovering when it comes to any bid for offshore exploration and drilling. Messrs Peters and Jones were both involved in the 2018 ban of all such new exploration when they were part of the Labour-NZ First coalition. Labour now uses their change of heart flip-flop as an example of political opportunism, while of course their former coalition partners claim that ban was pushed through without them being consulted or involved. A day after NZ First’s policy unveiling and 1000km further south, Green Party co-leaders Chloe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson were in the Dunedin Gasworks Museum, announcing their own policy in an appropriate ``building that rightly places fossil fuels where they belong — in a museum’’, Ms Davidson said. The Greens’ plan is to set up a new renewables electricity company funded to the tune of $980 million from the party’s proposed ``super-rich tax’’. The suggested entity, KiwiPower, would act as a buffer against the dry-year problem when hydro-electric lakes fall below minimum consented levels for generation and the yield from wind turbines falls flat, just when the country might urgently need to meet a spike in power demand. Existing generator and retailer companies, such as Meridian Energy and Genesis Energy, would be obliged to provide portions of their backup capacity to KiwiPower, which would then make it more widely available, presumably not at eye-watering spot prices. The Greens also talked about the importance of solar energy, and policies including zero-interest clean-energy loans, the right of tenants to have solar power, legalising plug-in solar kits and expanding the government’s Warmer Kiwi Homes grants policy. The difference between the two quotes could not be much wider. New Zealand is fortunate in having incredible sources of renewable energy – accounting for 85-90% of our electricity supply and a tad below 50% of our broader energy needs. It’s that final part of the puzzle we need to solve.
