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5. ENERGY – “WHERE TO AFTER THE LAST RIVER?”

Hydro electric generation is often, and misleadingly, promoted as a clean, renewable energy resource.  While this can be true of the water itself, the number and magnitude of rivers themselves remain a finite resource.  A dam destroys the ecological integrity and natural free-flowing nature of the river forever.  Despite this, calls for increased hydro electric generation on our remaining free-flowing rivers persist.  We ask: “What will New Zealand do after the last river has been dammed?” Whatever the response, the obvious supplementary question becomes: “Well, why don’t we go to those options now and protect New Zealand’s remaining free-flowing rivers in their natural state?” 

Question:  Does your party support the continued growth of hydro electric generation, and if so, where to after the last river, and why not go there now?

No. We have backed the present government on renewables. Wind power, geothermal, and other exciting emerging technologies will get us back up to above the 90% renewables target where, of course, we used to be. To our knowledge there are no approved plans for hydro stations and New Zealand First is not proposing nor supporting any.

Yes, UnitedFuture does support the growth of hydro electric generation if it is necessary, however this policy is tempered by recreational and environmental considerations. We will support the development of further hydro schemes only as long as they do not have an adverse affect on the environment and recreational opportunities within that specific river. Our first priority, however, is to develop alternative forms of renewable energy and increase energy conservation initiatives.

National does not support damming every last river. A key part of New Zealand‘s competitive advantage in keeping talent in New Zealand and in attracting visitors is the unique recreational opportunities that are available from our natural water bodies. National is critical of the current Government’s record of ever-increasing thermal electricity generation, and particularly its decision to increase coal generation and to fund the diesel generator at Whirinaki. We believe that the future is a mix of renewable energy, including geothermal, wind and hydro. We have also announced initiatives to significantly increase technologies such as solar water heating. We will take a balanced approach to new hydro generation proposals, and ensure that recreation and conservation interests are properly considered in any new proposals.

Yes, we do support the continued growth of hydro. But more importantly, we need to look at all our options for energy production.

The Kiwi Party supports the continued generation of electricity at the lowest possible cost to consumers since this is a major comparative competitive advantage, which we have traditionally enjoyed as a nation. However, new hydro electric generation should not be at the expense of ‘environmental flows’, or other environmental damage. This will create a practical hurdle, which will prevent new undesirable hydro electricity schemes proceeding.

Our current goal is to have 90% of this country’s electricity generated from renewable sources by 2025. But that doesn’t mean we need to dam every river, or have wind turbines on every ridgeline. We are well on the way to achieving the 90% target. We need to build only 175 megawatts of new renewables each year. Currently, there are 400 megawatts under construction, with 300 due to be completed by the end of this year. Environmental concerns can be addressed through the Resource Management Act.

Rivers are finite, especially rivers with high natural values. New Zealand has already sacrificed many rivers to hydro electric generation and to agricultural landscape change. New Zealand is well-placed to increase renewable generation through a mix of base-load geothermal, wind to complement our current hydro, industrial co-generation, and innovation like wave and tidal. New Zealand is still catching up in terms of efficiency and conservation. Some upgrades of current hydro, run-of-river, and micro-hydro may be acceptable.

The Maori Party promotes the commercial development of renewable energy resources, including geothermal, wave, wind and solar, in order to protect and preserve limited resources such as oil, gas and rivers.  Decisions over river use and sustainability need to involve relevant iwi and hapü.

Hydro electric generation is vital to New Zealand, both for power generation itself and as a climate-friendly method of generation. However, there has to be a balance between uses of our water, and recreational interests are vital here as well. The Progressive Party sees access to our great outdoors and rivers as an important public good, and we would not support using “the last river”. Our national energy strategy needs to focus on a range of generation modes, including wind and geothermal power, as well as more energy conservation. There are still ample water bodies left in New Zealand for recreation, some of which already have hydro electric generation on them. We do not see hydro power as mutually exclusive with recreation and environmental protection, but we should take a cautious and balanced approach to further hydro power development.

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