Young Jonathan: Electricity (Renewable Preference) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Young Jonathan: Electricity (Renewable Preference) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:664;Page:11789] 
JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) 
: 
 I congratulate the previous speaker Nanaia Mahuta on her appointment as energy spokesperson and I congratulate the member across the House Chris Hipkins on his tenacity in bringing the Electricity (Renewable Preference) Amendment Bill forward. Surely he is the “Energizer MP”. 
I make it clear that we are all heading in the same direction in terms of wanting to see renewable energy increase in its supply to generators. Our commitment is that by 2025 we will have 90 percent renewable energy. I think our area of disagreement is the mechanism by which that happens. The Labour Party wants to bring back the ban just like it brought back the bus. We prefer through the emissions trading scheme to bring a financial mechanism that will make renewable energy increasingly the energy source of choice as we see the cost of fossil fuels increase around the world. 
I think that Mr Hipkins may be incorrect in saying that the attitude out there in the market place is not averse to his suggestion in this bill. Certainly if the comments that came through in early 2008 stand true today—and I do not see why they would not because there is such similarity in the situation—he is not correct. We know for example that Todd energy one of our major exploration companies said that the then Labour Government’s planned 10-year ban on gas-fired baseload power stations was ill-conceived—that was its opinion. It posed risks of much higher power prices. It went on to say that it would bring damage to the gas sector. 
It is very interesting because although members may dispute that it brought a slow-down of gas exploration it was noticeable particularly around my neck of the woods in New Plymouth that generators started to look for alternate gas supplies when they thought that the gas supply in New Zealand was going to diminish. Contact Energy and Genesis at that particular point in time looked at importing gas. Interestingly enough they looked at liquefied natural gas (LNG) which is happening more and more around the world as people are hungry for energy. If members have done their research they will know that LNG—in terms of the process used to liquefy it transport it and then regasify it—creates a carbon footprint equivalent to coal. So it is interesting to see that when the Labour Government’s moratorium came into place generators in this country were looking to replace a diminishing supply of gas with gas from overseas that had an increased footprint of 40 percent. 
Chris Hipkins 
: You’re making a circular argument. 
JONATHAN YOUNG 
: No I am not indeed. I am stating that there are unintended consequences to what Mr Hipkins is proposing which is why Richard Tweedie made the comment that ironically this upward pressure could lead to a switch back to coal or other greenhouse gas - intensive sources of energy. That is the comment of people in the industry and it was the outcome in our area of Taranaki. 
It is notable also and I think the Hon Nathan Guy mentioned it that in this last year Meridian Energy’s Project West Wind in Makara of 143 megawatts has come on line as well as Mighty River Power’s 130 megawatt Nga Awa Purua geothermal station. In December 2008 Mighty River Power’s 100 megawatt Kawerau geothermal station also came on stream. An increase in renewable power sources is happening in the country which causes me to ask why the member Chris Hipkins is bringing this bill forward. He proposed a nation that as a world leader went from—I forget the figures—7 percent to 25 percent or something like that. I ask whether I am correct; I cannot recall. That nation up there in Scandinavia has only a third of what we have in terms of renewable energy. We are a world leader. We have very high levels of renewable energy and we are I believe moving in the right direction. The only point of disagreement I believe is the mechanism by which we get there. Thank you.