5. Question No. 5—EnergyHon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Labour—Wigram) to the Minister for EnergyQuestion No. 5—Energy5. Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Labour—Wigram) to the Minister for Energy: Does he agree with Mark Ogge a climate and energy expert at the Australia Institute that only import liquefied natural gas if you like your energy very very expensive and if you want it to be very emissions intensive. Otherwise go for renewable energy with storage which is cheaper and virtually zero emissions"; if not why not?Hon SIMEON BROWN (Minister for Energy): No but I do agree with the Labor Party Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese who said "Gas in particular has a key role to play as a flexible source of energy helping to smooth the transition to renewables." I want to be very clear—New Zealand currently has an energy shortage. Electricity generators are having to burn coal and diesel to keep the lights on while factories close their doors and working people lose their jobs because of the energy crisis we have inherited. If the member opposite had continued to read further into the article which she—SPEAKER: No stick to your own stuff.Hon SIMEON BROWN: Sorry?SPEAKER: Stick to your own stuff not the previous Government.Hon SIMEON BROWN: Sorry. If the member had continued to read the article which she—SPEAKER: Reference to past Governments is not helpful in this situation.Hon SIMEON BROWN: I'm referring to a Radio New Zealand article that she was quoting the quote from this morning.SPEAKER: Oh that's a different matter. But make it clear you're quoting that's all.Hon SIMEON BROWN: Absolutely yes—the source for her question that's right. She would have noted the comments from New Zealand energy analysist John Kidd who said "LNG enables dynamic dispatch into the market when it is required which fits very well with the requirements of power generation." I know it's a hard truth for members opposite but the reality is we need more gas to enable intermittent renewables in New Zealand.Hon Dr Megan Woods: What advice if any has the Minister requested or received in the last three months on renewable energy storage such as grid-scale batteries as an alternative to importing expensive and emissions-intensive LNG?Hon SIMEON BROWN: Well the Government has welcomed in the last few months announcements by some of the generators around actual construction and financial investment decisions on grid-scale batteries such as Genesis who are actually investing in that infrastructure. And one of the announcements we made yesterday was actually to ease some of the restrictions on electricity distribution businesses to be able to actually invest in generation on their own assets. That could include more batteries. So we need more batteries we need more gas we need more wind we need more solar we need more geothermal we need more hydro—we need all of the above to have the affordable secure supply of energy for New Zealand. That's what this Government is delivering on.Hon Dr Megan Woods: How does the cost of generating electricity using LNG at between $200 and $300 per megawatt-hour compare to the cost of generating electricity from renewables—such as hydro wind and solar—and firmed with renewable storage?Hon SIMEON BROWN: The answer to that question is if you look at the energy shortage that we currently have and the prices that we've been experiencing with spot prices averaging up to $800 a megawatt-hour on the week of 11 August LNG comes in a lot lower than that cost and the good thing about it is all of those renewable energy sources their long-run cost of production is cheaper than that. So this is about providing the firming capacity so that people investing in renewable energy can have confidence that they can firm that energy source so we can have the renewable energy that New Zealand needs as the Prime Minister of Australia—Labor Party Prime Minister of Australia—said.Hon Dr Megan Woods: What if anything has he done to accelerate work based on advice from Genesis that estimated they could produce 600 gigawatt-hours of electricity with biomass in the range of $140 a megawatt?Hon SIMEON BROWN: This Government is focused on ensuring that we are reducing the red and green tape needed to be able to invest in generation up and down our country to allow generators whether they are the four gen-tailers or new gen-tailers—we need a more competitive market—to be able to invest whether it's in biomass whether it's in solar whether it's hydro whether it's geothermal whether it's gas—we need all of the above. But we're not going to sit here and pick winners. We're going to ensure the market is operating competitively so that New Zealanders can access affordable secure reliable energy.Hon Dr Megan Woods: Why has the Minister not sought advice on renewable energy solutions as an alternative given it costs $200 to $300 per megawatt-hour to generate electricity from LNG and the 2023 Generation Investment Survey put the cost of new generation from renewables at $90 per megawatt-hour?Hon SIMEON BROWN: When the sun's not shining the wind's not blowing and we've got a dry year in the South Island and we don't have enough gas we need to be able to firm the energy that is being produced. The member opposite might still be thinking it's 2023 and she's the Minister—well she ain't. We have an energy crisis in New Zealand caused by the policies that she left behind. She should take some responsibility."