9. Question No. 9—Energy and ResourcesBARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country) to the Minister of Energy and ResourcesQuestion No. 9—Energy and Resources9. BARBARA KURIGER (National—Taranaki - King Country) to the Minister of Energy and Resources: Does she have confidence in the ability of the New Zealand electricity system to deliver security of supply; if not why not?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Energy and Resources): Yes. The situation last night was not one of physical generation deficit but rather market decisions. I have received assurances from Transpower that there is fair capacity tonight. The latest assessment that I have seen is that there is around 540 megawatts of spare capacity tonight of which 250 megawatts is forecast wind. I do however think that there are questions that need to be answered following this series of events and that's why I've asked the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to set up a review of what has happened.Barbara Kuriger: Does she agree with her own letter to electricity generators this morning that New Zealand consumers do not expect our electricity market to fail under demand pressures" and if so what steps has she taken to make sure New Zealand has a resilient electricity system?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: In answer to the first part of the question yes I do agree with my own letter that I sent to generators this morning. In terms of what steps I've taken today in light of the events that happened last night this morning I met with Transpower I met with the Electricity Authority and I got a thorough situation report of what had occurred. I then wrote to all of the electricity generators and asked them to reply to me swiftly to give me assurances that they were doing all they could and what their role in the situation that occurred yesterday was. I have also sought further advice from MBIE and am continuing to monitor the situation closely. I've also appointed MBIE and asked them to stand up a coordinating agency. There are a number of players that come into this. There's the system administrator in terms of Transpower. There's the generators. There's distribution networks that all need to come in play. So I've asked MBIE to be the coordinating authority. I've also spoken to the chief executive officer of the electricity distribution businesses to get feedback from his members of what situation occurred last night.Barbara Kuriger: By what year does the Minister expect new peak electricity sources such as green hydrogen or pumped hydro to be on the market ensuring avoidance of future blackouts?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I think that the member's operating under a false assumption around what pumped hydro does. Pumped hydro is about energy storage rather than bringing on new generation. The role of pumped hydro in terms of providing dry-year storage will actually unleash the ability of other forms of generation that will be required in different parts of the country. We gave a very clear time line of what our expectations around the time line of the New Zealand Battery Project was when we launched it and when we wrote the press release announcing it and that is that it will take a number of years. As I've said a number of times in this House I think it is a shame that New Zealand missed the opportunity to look at our long-term solutions many years ago.Barbara Kuriger: Why did the Government ban gas exploration before it had a ready alternative to provide New Zealand with renewable electricity?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: As has also been canvassed many times in this House the ending of exploration permits for offshore oil and gas the decision that our Government took in 2018 was about a long-term transition—that it takes anywhere between five and 10 years to bring on something from an exploration permit to a production permit. This is a long-term managed transition and I would point that member to the fact that the International Energy Agency is now pointing to this as a series of policies that countries around the world must adopt if the globe is to stand a chance in meeting its Paris commitments. I would like to hear what the policy solutions the National Party—SPEAKER: No. Order! Order! The member knows that's out of order.Barbara Kuriger: When the Minister said earlier today she was made aware at 8.30 p.m. of the outages yesterday did she find out from the social media site of WEL Networks as their post was up before 8 p.m.?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: No."