There is no mechanism by which demand side options, other than instantaneous belt tightening, can compete fairly with new supply, either in day to day dispatch, or in new investment. It is a supply side market and the rules need drastic overhaul. Lines companies are not allowed to. Small retailers without any existing generation haven t the asset backing for such an investment. Large retailers like baby ECNZs and Trans Alta are not interested in that scale of investment ECNZ has sold off hydro stations of up to 70 MW capacity as too small for its operations.
Wind is typically much less than that.
So the 500 MW of new wind projects at the design stage has been cancelled. I have been writing energy policies for 20 years and each time I finish thinking it through again another government bungle has pre-empted the strategy, particularly in the electricity industry. The Greens see no point in defining the detail of future policy for the electricity industry until we know where we are starting from. But certain principles are clear. With the sale of Contact and private investment in generation, restoring an integrated generation system is no longer possible.