The Taranaki Mayoral Forum says Wellington should financially back the region as it is the logical base for hydrogen energy production.

That work would include both onshore and offshore exploration.

As economies attempt to move away from fossil fuels, hydrogen is touted as a lower carbon-emission alternative with no pollution from the exhaust pipe.

It is especially promising for freight trucks which are hard to power by battery.

The mayors’ submission to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise on regulating hydrogen has admitted drawbacks: hydrogen’s green credentials do depend on how it’s made.

The forum emphasised hydrogen is not a silver bullet for climate change – noting that other technologies, scaled-up mitigation and behaviour change were also necessary.

Despite those doubts, the mayors enthusiastically pitched Taranaki as New Zealand’s best bet for a hydrogen headquarters, asking the Government to take “proactive action”.

“Government support may be required to help kick-start an industry in New Zealand and make sure risks are appropriately managed.”

The forum is made up of the New Plymouth, Stratford and South Taranaki district mayors and the chair of Taranaki Regional Council.

Their submission points to Taranaki’s experience in energy production, existing infrastructure, and promising geology – as well as councils' experience in regulating the energy sector.

“We would welcome Taranaki being considered as a homebase for this industry.”

The mayors are clear iwi and hapū need to be in the room from the start.

“The Mayoral Forum supports a regulatory regime that provides mana whenua with early and meaningful engagement,” their submission said.

“Treaty settlements in Taranaki have clear provisions around oil and gas developments, and [we] recommend that the Government consider how best to honour those commitments in regulating hydrogen, even if hydrogen may not strictly fall within definitions in Treaty settlements.”

Different ways to make hydrogen have varying carbon footprints.

Manufacturing demands huge amounts of electricity in a relatively inefficient process: Hiringa Energy is gearing up capacity at Kāpuni to make ‘green’ hydrogen with power from four giant windmills, taller than Auckland’s Sky Tower.

MBIE is investigating ‘natural’ and ‘orange’ hydrogen.

Geological processes in the earth’s crust form natural hydrogen, while the orange version is made by injecting water and carbon dioxide into particular mineral formations to stimulate hydrogen generation.

The MBIE paper points to two options to regulate the infant industry:
• Define hydrogen as a mineral under the Crown Minerals Act (CMA)
• Regulate it as a non-mineral resource, under the Resource Management Act (RMA) or a new framework.

The mayors’ submission said mana whenua must be part of talks whatever officials decide.

“Whichever regulatory pathway the Crown adopts regarding the RMA or CMA, discussions will be required with iwi and hapū to define rights to the resource.”

They also suggest collaboration with local booster agency Venture Taranaki and Ara Ake, the region’s nationally-focused energy innovation centre.

LDR is local body reporting co-funded by RNZ and NZ on Air.