The report by global professional services company, GHD, shows there is significant and real progress in New Zealand towards becoming 100 per cent reliant on renewable energy – but leaders still share many concerns with the global crisis. 

The research found that 69 percent of New Zealand energy companies accelerated their investment in increasing their renewable energy mix during the past year, while a significantly lower nine per cent decelerated investment. 

“We know transitioning to sustainable, clean energy is a priority for most New Zealand businesses and if we can overcome the remaining barriers for supply and demand then we have the potential to generate excess, secure, reliable and affordable power,” says Nick Eldred, Technical Director Future Energy, at GHD New Zealand. 

“As a country we have a real opportunity to both transition our energy supply to meet our emission reduction targets and potentially export clean energy to global markets.”

SHOCKED suggests 72% of energy leaders in New Zealand point to the supply disruption as their number one concern for transitioning to renewables and 75% of leaders cite social acceptance as one of the biggest barriers to advancing new energy projects that could help tackle the crisis. 

“We are seeing significant and positive progress towards our aspirational goal of 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030 but there are continuing difficulties we need to overcome with our grid capacity, our consenting processes, social licence for solar and wind, and how we agree on funding the transition,” says Eldred.

The report said New Zealand is well placed compared to other countries in reaching its 100 per cent renewable energy goals and could become a world leader in excess energy supply to global markets - but critical barriers still need to be removed. 

• 72% of energy leaders in New Zealand point to the supply disruption as their number one concern for transitioning to renewables.  

   

• 75% of leaders cite social acceptance as one of the biggest barriers to advancing new energy projects that could help tackle the global energy crisis.

   

• To progress, the research prompts the need for urgent change, with GHD New Zealand outlining that fit-for-purpose consenting, bold reform, enhanced grid capacity, co-funding and increased collaboration between government, business, and community are needed. 

   

The GHD report identifies three ‘shocks’ that underlie the energy crisis: A security shock is being triggered by extreme market volatility and geopolitical tensions.

Rapidly disappearing energy affordability and reliability has created a societal shock. Over three-quarters (76%t) of global energy leaders say standards of living are falling because of the energy crisis. 

A climate shock is also unfolding as the climate crisis accelerates, with 76 % of global energy leaders believing they are under more pressure than any other industry to decarbonise. 

SHOCKED also identifies five key, global priorities to help de-risk the energy transition:

Priority 1: Unlocking money and markets 

Priority 2: Supercharging engineered solutions 

Priority 3: Carefully balancing supply chains and resources 

Priority 4: Securing community understanding and social acceptance 

Priority 5: Ensuring a just transition 

SHOCKED is one of the largest studies ever conducted with the global energy sector C-suite. It utilises two core research methods: quantitative opinion research among 450 senior energy sector decisionmakers and 10 qualitative interviews with industry thought leaders. The study focuses on 10 key markets: Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, NZ, Singapore, the Philippines, the UAE, the UK and the USA. Additional interviews were conducted with leaders based in Brazil, China, Egypt, India and South Africa.

This story is republished from Energy and Environment as part of a copy sharing arrangement.