And he's right - this year has seen pricing turmoil. August saw daily averages ranging between NZ$164.52 and $853.57 per megawatt hour (MWh). By comparison, August 2023 saw a maximum daily average price of $168.43 per MWh.

The Electricity Authority attributes this to a shortage of gas combined with low rain and inflows into our hydro lakes.

The latter is a major concern. Storage levels are now around 800 gigawatt hours (GWh) less than the minimum levels in 2023, and more than 1,000GWh less than the historical mean for this time of year.

This is happening in the face of climate change, higher risk of dry years, and high projected growth in electricity demand.

Electricity demand and generation scenarios released recently by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment show this growth could be up to 82%, with a peak demand of between 9.1 and 12.5 gigawatts by 2050.

The prime minister has called it an "energy security crisis" and signalled a review of New Zealand's electricity market as wholesale prices spike and industries suffer.

And he's right - this year has seen pricing turmoil. August saw daily averages ranging between NZ$164.52 and $853.57 per megawatt hour (MWh).

By comparison, August 2023 saw a maximum daily average price of $168.43 per MWh.

The Electricity Authority attributes this to a shortage of gas combined with low rain and inflows into our hydro lakes. The latter is a major concern.

Storage levels are now around 800 gigawatt hours (GWh) less than the minimum levels in 2023, and more than 1,000GWh less than the historical mean for this time of year.

This is happening in the face of climate change, higher risk of dry years, and high projected growth in electricity demand.

Electricity demand and generation scenarios released recently by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment show this growth could be up to 82%, with a peak demand of between 9.1 and 12.5 gigawatts by 2050.

However, with greater electrification needed to decarbonise the economy, and aspirations to phase out all fossil fuels by 2030, some scenarios indicate the demand will be at least two to three times more.

Of course, this means more generation capacity will be needed - 20 to 30 gigawatts above the current ten. The question is, can New Zealand do it?

Doubled capacity by 2030

The energy industry has been responding to these market signals, as highlighted in the Government's latest generation investment survey.

Committed and actively pursued projects will double generation capacity by the end of the decade. This will come largely from solar (6.4GW) and onshore wind (2.9GW), with smaller contributions from geothermal (0.6GW) and grid-scale batteries (0.6GW).

The first 35-megawatt battery facility was commissioned at Huntly this year. And battery capacity is important for stablising the grid and meeting peak demands.

However, batteries will not address long-term storage of weeks and months, which is the focus of the NZ Battery Project.

The projected lesser investment in battery technology indicates a greater need to use hydropower capacity to compensate for the variability of solar and wind generation.

This "firming" of supply is based on the percentage of the year that a generation facility will provide power. For utility-scale solar it ranges between 19 percent and 26%, and for onshore wind between 33% and 55%.

Modelling by the Electricity Authority provides further insight on the firming that will be required. The analysis shows solar generation may be below 10% of the total capacity for 60% of the time. It will be above 50% of the overall capacity for 14% of the time.

Wind generation may be below 10% of the total capacity for 5% of the time, and above 50% of the capacity for 9% of the time over the entire country.

Renewables can meet future demand

Still, by 2030 we can expect around 11.5 terrawatt hours (TWh) a year from the new solar projects, and around 10.1TWh from the onshore wind projects. In total, this is about half the current yearly electricity demand.

Over the past decade, the country's hydropower assets generated between 24 and 26TWh per year. So, to reach 100% renewable supply by 2030 (assuming biomass replaces coal at Huntley) will mean replacing between 3.5 and 5.6TWh of gas generation.

The battery capacity being developed won't offset all of the gas generators currently used to respond to peak demands. If all of the batteries being developed participated in the market for four hours a day, they could provide around 1TWh over a year.

On a yearly basis, then, New Zealand can generate more than 47TWh from solar, wind and hydro, with some firming from the grid-scale batteries.

That excludes the other baseload generators - geothermal, co-generation (where electricity is generated alongside heat production at industrial sites such as paper mills) and biomass.

In short, we should be able to meet our aspirations and the projected growth in energy demand by 2030.

Winter price spikes still likely

The challenge will be seasonal and daily power variations.

The Electricity Authority analysis indicates wind generation should be reasonably consistent over the year. But there is an overall tendency to generate more during the day, typically peaking in the afternoons.

Solar generation, of course, will also peak in the early afternoons. But in winter it will generate a third less than in summer. This is important, given the risk of depleting hydro lake storage and running out of sufficient generation capacity in the grid.

The electricity system will need to cater for the lower solar generation in winter when hydro storage is at its lowest.

Morning and evening demand can be addressed, to some extent, with the rollout of rooftop solar, with batteries to store the solar electricity generated, augmented by the grid to charge the batteries if the sun doesn't shine.

If the solar systems are managed collectively as a virtual power plant, it has been shown winter peak events can be addressed by feeding electricity back into the grid when needed.

Nevertheless, with solar and wind offering lower market prices, we can probably expect wholesale prices to stabilise at reasonably low levels from the end of September to early May in a year without drought spells.

But winter may well still see price spikes if we don't address seasonal storage. Scrapping most of the NZ Battery Project, as others have observed, may well prove shortsighted.

• First published by The Conversation
• Alan Brent is the Professor and Chair in Sustainable Energy Systems, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Laudato Si' is medieval Italian for "Praise be to you."

It is a quote from St. Francis of Assisi's beautiful Canticle of the Creatures: "Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs."

Pope Francis, who took his papal name from St Francis, continues to be deeply inspired by this patron saint of ecology. So much so, that in 2015 he wrote the first ever environmental encyclical letter titled "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home."

"St Francis of Assisi reminds us," writes the pope, "that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. …

"This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will."

Pope Francis explains, "Each year hundreds of millions of tons of waste are generated, much of it non-biodegradable, highly toxic and radioactive, from homes and businesses, construction and demolition sites, clinical, electronic and industrial sources. The earth, our home, is becoming increasingly like an immense pile of filth."

The Holy Father then weighs in on climate change.

Ignoring the weak scientific claims of those who deny the climate is changing and that the earth is warming - due principally to human pollution. He writes, "A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system."

Indeed, the scientific consensus is very solid.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), "97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities."

"The problem is dangerously aggravated by a model of development based on the intensive use of fossil fuels" - that is coal, oil, and gas.

The pope urgently calls for global conversion from the use of these fossil fuels to "clean renewable energy" - wind, solar and geothermal.

Francis astutely observes that living comfortable lifestyles far removed from the poor, often leads to a "numbing of conscience" and to a cold, impersonal analysis.

"At times this attitude exists side by side with a ‘green rhetoric.'

"Today, however, we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor."

Observing the connection between the degradation of the environment and war, Francis writes, "It is foreseeable that, once certain resources have been depleted, the scene will be set for new wars."

The earth and humanity are in trouble.

The dangers of climate change and accompanying global warming are nothing to take lightly. The scientific evidence is overwhelming. We don't have much time left to wake up.

Therefore, this all makes Laudato Si' Week a week that should not be ignored. Let's commit to celebrating it as soon as possible.

Watch the moving film featuring Pope Francis called "The Letter: A message for our Earth"

Share Pope Francis' Laudato Si'.

Pray with the Laudato Si' Prayer Book.

Become a Laudato Si' animator.

Pick up the challenge: read the encyclical. It will inspire.

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

Dancers' heat is piped via a carrier fluid to 200m (650ft) boreholes that can be charged like a thermal battery.

The energy then travels back to the heat pumps, is upgraded to a suitable temperature and emitted back into SWG3.

The owners say this will enable them to completely disconnect the venue's gas boilers, reducing its carbon emissions by about 70 tonnes of CO2 a year.

David Townsend, founder of geothermal energy consultancy TownRock Energy, who designed the system, Bodyheat, told BBC News: "When you start dancing, medium pace, to the Rolling Stones or something, you might be generating 250W.

Read More

That would seem to be good news, as the world tries to wean itself off fossil fuels that are wrecking the global climate. But as electric cars become more popular, some question just how environmentally friendly they are.

The batteries in electric vehicles, for example, charge on power that is coming straight off the electric grid — which is itself often powered by fossil fuels.

And there are questions about how energy-intensive it is to build an EV or an EV battery, versus building a comparable traditional vehicle.

Are electric vehicles greener?

The short answer is yes — but their full green potential is still many years away.

Experts broadly agree that electric vehicles create a lower carbon footprint over the course of their lifetime than do cars and trucks that use traditional, internal combustion engines.

Last year, researchers from the universities of Cambridge, Exeter and Nijmegen in The Netherlands found that in 95% of the world, driving an electric car is better for the environment than driving a gasoline-powered car.

Electricity grids in most of the world are still powered by fossil fuels such as coal or oil, and electric vehicles depend on that energy to get charged. Separately, EV battery production remains an energy-intensive process.

A study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative found that the battery and fuel production for an EV generates higher emissions than the manufacturing of an automobile. But those higher environmental costs are offset by electric vehicles superior energy efficiency over time.

In short, the total emissions per mile for battery-powered cars are lower than comparable cars with internal combustion engines.

"If we are going to take a look at the current situation, in some countries, electric vehicles are better even with the current grid," Sergey Paltsev, a senior research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative and one of the study's authors, told CNBC.

Paltsev explained that the full benefits of electric vehicles will be realized only after the electricity sources become renewable, and it might take several decades for that to happen.

"Currently, the electric vehicle in the U.S., on average, would emit about 200 grams of CO2 per mile," he said. "We are projecting that with cleaning up the grid, we can reduce emissions from electric vehicles by 75%, from about 200 (grams) today to about 50 grams of CO2 per mile in 2050."

Similarly, Paltsev said MIT research showed non-plug-in hybrid cars with internal combustion engines currently emit about 275 grams of CO2 per mile. In 2050, their projected emissions are expected to be between 160 to 205 grams of CO2 per mile — the range is wider than electric vehicles because fuel standards vary from place to place.

Decarbonization is the process of reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by burning fossil fuels. Efforts to cut down pollution across various industries are expected to further reduce the environmental impact of EV production and charging over time.

"When you look forward to the rest of the decade, where we will see massive amounts of decarbonization in power generation and a massive amount of decarbonization in the industrial sector, EVs will benefit from all of that decarbonization," Eric Hannon, a Frankfurt-based partner at McKinsey & Company, told CNBC.

Batteries are the biggest emitter

EVs rely on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to run.

The process of making those batteries — from using mining raw materials like cobalt and lithium to production in gigafactories and transportation — is energy-intensive, and one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions from EVs today, experts said.

Gigafactories are facilities that produce EV batteries on a large scale.

"Producing electric vehicles leads to significantly more emissions than producing petrol cars. Depending on the country of production, that's between 30% to 40% extra in production emissions, which is mostly from the battery production," said Florian Knobloch, a fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance.

Those higher production emission numbers are seen as "an initial investment, which pays off rather quickly due to the reduced lifetime emissions."

China currently dominates battery production, with 93 gigafactories producing lithium-ion battery cells versus only four in the U.S., the Washington Post reported this year.

"I think the battery is the most complicated component in the EV, and has the most complex supply chain," George Crabtree, director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, told CNBC, adding that the energy source used in battery production makes a huge difference on the carbon footprint for EVs.

Batteries made in older gigafactories in China are usually powered by fossil fuels, because that was the trend five to ten years ago, he explained. So, electric vehicles that are built with batteries from existing factories are going to have large carbon footprints.

But that's changing, he said, as "people have realized that's a huge carbon footprint." Continue reading

Newly released data shows close to 1.1 million tonnes of coal was imported into New Zealand last year.

That's higher than the total of coal imports for 2017 and 2018 combined.

It's also the most coal shipped into New Zealand in any year since 2006, according to new data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). Read more

Vatican officials have released a document offering a guide for Catholics on how to take care of the earth as God's creation and man's "common home," citing the diocese's response to Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si'.

Maasin Diocese in Leyte province has installed solar panels in 42 churches to generate electricity in its fight against global warming and environmental abuse. Read more

For Rural Training Centres in the Solomons, the money saved by not having to buy costly diesel is a huge benefit.

"Most of the schools in Solomon Islands use around 50% of their total yearly budget on diesel to meet their energy requirements," says Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand programmes coordinator, Marion Ferguson.

"Saving most of this each year will provide a huge increase in resources that can be used for other critical needs..."

The project has been undertaken by a Dunedin companies Powerhouse Wind and Control Focus, Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand and the Solomon Islands Association of Rural Training Centres (SIARTC).

Assistance was also received from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).

To create the necessary power to replace diesel generators, the hybrid system harvests renewable energy from both wind and sun

A lithium ion battery provides a back-up of stored energy for when there is no sun or wind, and the existing diesel generator is also coupled into the system for backup.

Managing the system and doing the necessary power conversions is a Synergi hybrid power solution from Enatel in Christchurch.

All the unit's functions are provided by ‘hot swappable' modules.

This means that a failure in any module causes a reduced system output, not a total outage

Full capacity can be restored by plugging in a replacement without stopping the system.

"This means the power conversion equipment can be maintained by people trained to respond to alarms and diagnose, but who don't need advanced electrical skills to repair or replace components," says Bill Currie, Co-Director of Powerhouse Wind Ltd.

Source

• Supplied: Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
• Image: Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand

"It is through the actions of civil society and small island nations that the agreement recognises we need to keep a global temperature limit well below 2C, and work towards a limit of 1.5C to protect the most vulnerable states," says Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand Director Julianne Hickey.

Selected as one of only two leaders to represent the 165 member organisations of the Caritas Internationalis confederation, Hickey spoke at an event with other non-governmental organisations on December 7 as part of the conference.

"It's an honour to be invited to speak at this global event. But more importantly, I am concerned that those most affected by climate change in Oceania have a strong voice at the discussions in Paris. World leaders need to hear about the real life impact of climate change as they make decisions," Hickey said.

She says the agreement sends a bold signal to the world - to local and national governments, to businesses, to communities and individuals - that we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions as quickly and efficiently as possible.

"At the moment, it offers hope, though not security, for the most vulnerable."

Caritas is now calling on the international community, especially the affluent and those most able, to redouble their efforts to protect our common home.

"We now need a concrete, robust plan to significantly cut our greenhouse gas emissions, and scale up our own financial assistance to help more vulnerable nations, especially in the Pacific," Hickey says.

• There is a need to 'step up' and look at current carbon emission reduction targets. While it is a small contributor, but it can be much better.
• An 11% reduction on 1990 levels is not good enough.
• It shouldn't be 'bought' through overseas carbon credits.
• Caritas welcomes the commitment to help people in the Pacific move to renewable energy.
• However, there is an urgent need to increase climate change adaptation funding and ensure it reaches those most in need.
• Although it is regrettable that human rights and the rights of indigenous people are not referenced in this agreement, we intend to hold governments to account.

New Zealand's prime minister John Key told RNZ's Morning Report that significant steps on emission reduction would not involve cutting back on the mining of oil, gas and coal.

"Not in terms of the production side of the house, if you like ... I can't exactly tell you off the top of my head how many barrels of oil we produce a day but it would be what Saudi Arabia, Iraq and those other countries, Iran, produce in a nano-second. It's just not large."

Listen to John Key on Morning Report

Key said New Zealand was just being consistent with what other countries were doing.

"The world's going to continue to consume some of these products and we can't stop that."

"The question is, can we get them to transition more rapidly to other forms of renewable energy? The answer is yes."

"But one of the fastest ways to do that is to stop the subsidisation of the consumption of fossil fuels and that's really what the fossil fuel subsidy reform's about."

"New Zealand could, of course, just stop producing oil and gas and coal but realistically if we did that I don't believe it would stop it being consumed. I think the rest of the world would just fill the very small gap we would leave."

Source

• caritas.org.nz
• caritas media statement
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: aosis.org

The parishes of Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey Church in Chalan Pago and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Agat have entered into a contract to purchase renewable energy for the next 20 years through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

The Archdiocese of of Agaña's newspaper reports that with the two additional parishes on line the archdiocese can expect to save $US60,000 every year.

They say that over the course of the PPA contracts this savings will be measured in millions of dollars and value to the environment is priceless.

Under a PPA, an outside investor installs, owns and maintains the system while selling the power produced to the parishes as less than utility rates.

This is accomplished at no cost or liability to the parishes according to a news release from Pacific Solar and Photovoltaics Inc., which installed the system.

The Archdiocese of of Agaña (Guam) is pursuing a policy of reducing its dependence on fossil fuels.

The Archbishop, Anthony Sablan Apuron, says the their policy is to reduce energy expenses while at the same time being good stewards of the planet.

"Fossil fuels are a finite resource and no matter what the price, we will someday run out of these natural resources," he said.

Source

• umatuna.org
• Image: umatuna.org