Cosgrove Clayton: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Cosgrove Clayton: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:606;Page:3904] 
3.  
CLAYTON COSGROVE (NZ Labour—Waimakariri) 
 to the  
Minister of Energy 
: What is the Government doing to encourage the development of alternative forms of power generation in New Zealand? 
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Energy) 
: 
 The Government has set a national target for increasing the supply of renewable energy and is taking a number of initiatives to achieve it. For example earlier today I announced a decision to make Kyoto Protocol carbon credits available for two proposed wind farms that would roughly treble the amount of wind generation in New Zealand. Allocating the credits will help to ensure it is economic to build those wind farms sooner rather than later. That is a clear example of how climate change policy can help to deliver more sustainable energy. 
Clayton Cosgrove 
: What else is the Government doing to remove barriers to new renewable energy projects? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: Another key issue for developers of renewable energy is the cost of connecting to local electricity line networks. The Government’s electricity policy requires the industry to develop standardised pricing for delivering power to the grid across local lines. I am actively engaged in making sure that happens as soon as possible in order to encourage new investment in distributor generation. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: How can the Minister make the claims he does today when none of the some 15 recommendations on pages 9 and 10 of the Cabinet paper entitled  
Energy Efficiency Renewable Energy and the Resource Management Act 
 involve any action other than a restatement of what has already been said or in other words why is there is nothing new and no direction in which the Resource Management Act might be changed; and how do his climate change proposals and his concern over the Kyoto Protocol stack up with the Otahuhu B and Huntly B stations being fired up for more coal and the New Plymouth combined-cycle station being geared up for the burning of fuel oil? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The answer to the member’s first question is that he read the wrong paper. The answer to the second question is that with the earlier rundown of the Maui gasfield there will be a period of 1 to 3 years in which we will be burning more coal. I think that will start this winter. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked the Minister a written question and I got an answer from the Minister that directed me to that Cabinet paper. If the Minister would like to give an answer now maybe that would be reasonable. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is a debating matter. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Will the Minister give a clear indication now that the Government will not support investment in new coal-fired power station capacity that could undercut the new renewables which may be the single biggest disincentive to investment in clean technologies? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: It would be illogical indeed for us to use carbon credits which is the purpose of this question to assist the development of thermal generation. The express purpose of using carbon credits is to reduce the thermal electricity used on business as usual. 
Gordon Copeland 
: What is the estimated dollar value of the climate change carbon credits that he has announced will be allocated to the proposed wind farms? 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: The carbon credits are about a million tonnes of carbon dioxide. They are in the form of a promissory note because the Kyoto Protocol has yet to come into force. That is because Russia has yet to ratify it. The world price of carbon is therefore unknown but people are paying about five bucks US as far as I can tell. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The Minister said in his reply to me that my supplementary question was about carbon credits. That may have been the question in his mind and it was his answer. But in fact the question as asked was about encouraging the development of alternative forms of power generation. My question was not about how the carbon credits would relate to coal stations but was in terms of the obstacle that they would pose to new renewable generation. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I think that the Minister might be prepared to comment. 
Hon PETE HODGSON 
: I am happy to add that the Government has no plans to incentivise the building of coal-fired power stations. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I seek leave to table a Cabinet paper entitled  
Energy Efficiency Renewable Energy and the Resource Management Act 
 which shows that the Government is doing nothing to enhance renewable energy in this country. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.