How Jacinda Ardern left New Zealand on the brink of blackouts
By Paul Homewood
Sir Keir Starmer is standing by a pledge to ban new drilling in the North Sea, despite New Zealand abandoning a similar policy amid blackout fears.
Labour’s manifesto, due out on Thursday, will feature a pledge to block all new licensing for oil and gas as one of its key energy policies.
The party “will not be issuing licences to explore new [oil and gas] fields as we accelerate to clean power”, a Labour spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.
It follows last weekend’s announcement that New Zealand’s government was lifting a ban on new oil and gas exploration.
The ban was announced by former prime minister Jacinda Ardern in 2018. “The world has moved on from fossil fuels,” Ardern proclaimed at the time.
New Zealand’s trailblazing policy, which was the first of its kind, became a key inspiration for the Labour Party’s own plan.
However, some in the party are now questioning the commitment after New Zealand resources minister Shane Jones last weekend denounced its own ban as a disaster – and revoked it.
It followed three years of rising energy prices that have left 110,000 households unable to warm their homes, 19pc of households struggling with bills and 40,000 of them having their power cut off due to unpaid bills, according to Consumer NZ.
Since April the situation has further deteriorated: Transpower, the equivalent of our National Grid, warned that the nation was at high risk of blackouts.
New Zealand’s shift to renewables meant it no longer had the generating power to keep the lights on during the cold spells that mark the Antipodean winter, said Transpower, as it begged consumers to cut their electricity consumption.
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The threat to New Zealand’s energy security comes despite the fact that geologists have discovered billions of cubic metres of natural gas in the seabeds around the country.
Sean Rush, a leading New Zealand barrister specialising in petroleum licensing law and climate litigation, called the oil and gas ban “economic vandalism at its worst in exchange for virtue signalling at its finest”.
Rush warned Labour off a copycat policy, saying: “There will be no benefits to UK energy security by banning new exploration drilling. You will simply disown an industry in which the UK has been world-leading.”
Jones said last week: “Natural gas is critical to keeping our lights on and our economy running, especially during peak electricity demand and when generation dips because of more intermittent sources like wind, solar and hydro.”
Such warnings are echoed by energy experts in the UK, where over 75pc of total energy consumed still comes from oil and gas.
Half comes from UK waters – but it too will drop off a cliff if Labour implements a ban on new drilling, warns the industry.
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Although New Zealand gets more than half its electricity from hydro, only 7% comes from wind and solar. Hence the need for fossil fuels.
Meanwhile the idiots who will be in charge of the UK in a few weeks time carry on living in La La Land:
Last night a Labour spokesman said the UK would do better than New Zealand.
“Unlike this government, we will have a proper plan to take advantage of our North Sea resources in carbon capture, hydrogen and offshore wind, to deliver for our coastal communities and workers.
“Labour’s plan to make the UK a clean energy superpower will reduce the UKs dependence on imported energy, as we increase the percentage of British renewable and nuclear power in our energy mix.”
Carbon capture? So they have decided we will still need fossil fuels, it just won’t come from the North Sea!
You could not make it up!
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
As soon as this is confirmed in the Labour Manifesto, we must write to our local prospective Labour candidates and ask them to confirm how they expect to keep the lights on.
I spoke to mine on my doorstep today.
I told him we wouldn’t be voting for him or anybody that supported Net Zero or wanted to make me paymore for intermittent energy.
“carbon capture, hydrogen and offshore wind“
Just in case anyone imagined that Labour has acquired prognostic skills to rival those of Mystic Meg, mathematics any better than the lovely Abbotpotamus, or common sense greater than the Three Stooges.
Not to mention floating windmills and tidal schemes – all expensive fantasies.
I’m sure that well-known power engineer Ed Miliband has a cunning plan for how Labour will keep the lights on.
Unicorn Farts.
unicorn farts are pure methane and they can be trained to expel them directly under pressure into tank for easy transportation. the alternative of course is to have a unicorn in every kitchen and in the back seat of a car. Might seem screwy but more sensible than anything Mad Milliband comes up with
Save gas – fart in a jar!
Sir Smarmy need to tell us where the “windfall tax”, that seems to be funding so many of Labour’s plans, will come from as Oil and Gas companies quit the UK?
Clearly, there will be no windfall tax income from Labour’s nationalised, and massively subsidised by tax payers money, GB Energy company.
Indeed. Not only will they not get much from “windfall tax,” they will lose all the royalties and taxes they have been collecting.
I.e., they are going to LOSE money.
Same with non-dom tax, what happens when all the non-doms upsticks and take their money?
Sir Kneeler Flip Flop U-turn and Robot Reeves are very keen to tell you what taxes won’t be going up under Labour but are keeping very quiet about all those that will be going up and squeezing the life out of the economy.
” to deliver for our coastal communities and workers.”
Where does that leave the rest of the UK? I remember reading that Hornsea 2, supposedly the biggest offshore farm in the world will only power 2 medium sized UK cities for domestic power never mind the power required by industry.
Hornsea 2 Offshore Wind Farm | Ørsted (orsted.co.uk)
X
Thats weird 2nd time luckily –
New Zealand has already had to resort to rolling blackouts due to the politically motivated operation of its electricity system without a sufficient reserve margin to make renewables looks better than they are e.g thermal generation (A coal & gas unit) that should have being on hot standby was not used. Its not like the high demand due to cold weather was a surprise. https://wattclarity.com.au/articles/2021/08/09aug-power-system-stress-with-record-demand-and-insufficient-supply-in-new-zealand-on-monday/
Anyway I amazed there isn’t a large pump hydro generator on the North Island like Dinorwig in the UK as I wonder what the plan is if something goes wrong with the HVDC Inter-Island.
You can only site hydro where it’s feasible
I suspect in a country with the geography of New Zealand there are suitable sites for a pump storage hydro on the North island to use as a short acting reserve or failing you would think there would be gas turbines at the ready to deal with the largest single generator tripping off line which I suspect is 1 cable of the HVDC link.
PZ
You have to stop trying to compare NZ with other grids. Everyone is different. I wrote about the situation over on Climate Etc.
The August event was a combination of factors, the wind failed, A widshift caused the screens at a big hydro to block and the grid operator stuffed up, getting some areas shut off when they didn’t need to.
Is this the link your referring to- https://judithcurry.com/2023/09/30/new-zealand-grid/
What is wrong with comparing NZ to other grids. If we don’t compare other grids we are bound to repeat their mistakes e.g. Texas with its indiscriminate load shedding the electric gas compressors which in turn tripped a number of gas fired plant offline which is a bit problematic in a gas dominated grid. A clear lesson is all the gas capacity should be require to have fuel stored onsite it can switch to in the event of a gas supply interruption and electric gas compressors and other essential gas product/supply infrastructure should be required to have backup generators.
Grids in different places will of course have differences due to local conditions but I find it bizarre a country with the geography for hydro wouldn’t create some even artificial storage to use as a short acting reserve or failing that gas turbines at the ready to deal with the largest single generator tripping off line which I suspect is 1 cable of the HVDC link.
PZ
NZ has no interconnectors – it is a fully isolated grid. That puts us in a similar situation to places like Iceland or Western Australia. NZ does have rapid start GTs – about 10% of average grid load
To have pumped storage, you need a source of “surplus” cheap energy. There is not that at all. In general terms, geothermal is about 90% load factor baseload, hydro doesn’t spill, wind can just be covered by backed off hydros, and thermal fills the gap between demand and load.
Spinning and quick start reserves are generally covered by hydros on tailrace depression – typically that is about 1-300MW. Only in the peaks do they use the GTs
As more industries stagnate or shut, the reverse multiplier effect will grow. Capital and talent will move. Wage earners will disappear. Spending will go down. Retail shops will struggle. Local’s physical and mental health issues will increase. Governments will have fewer resources to help.
What a plan!
The plan is regression of living standards, so as far as the WEF are concerned, it’s already working, however, reality will bring it crashing down
To Ray S and Mike H: Re our previous recent exchanges I maintain that CCS is fantasy. With or without involvement of the Allam Cycle it depends upon oxy-combustion of the fuel and the huge parasitic energy demand of the air compressor not to mention the capital cost. On the web the overall efficiency of the Allam process, including the air compressor, is stated as 53% which I believe must be sleight of hand because the ASU
uses 53 KwH per ton of oxygen. Even if it is correct 53% is far below what is achieved by CCGT (70% plus).
You are correct, CCS,Mlike the whole net zero scam, is fantasy
Vernon E: let’s see how the utility-scale plant performs. There is a large market for industrial-grade CO2 in the US as it’s widely used for EOR – $16 bn pa according to a NET Power video I saw. Presently almost all of that CO2 is geologically sourced. Working with oxygen makes the plant much smaller than an equivalent CCGT. Then there’s value in the nitrogen and argon co-products, especially the latter.
I recall looking for NZ data on wind farm generators, nothing available to the public (commercial sensitivity BS). Very different in Australia, which provides everything for free at 5 minute intervals for a year or two in the past.
Maybe this is an example where lack of transparency is detrimental to system security.
If wind and rain lashed NZ, sitting on a fault line (geothermal), can’t do 100% renewables, then nobody can, but who cares anyway, not many places are located in the roaring forties or the North Sea.
You won’t find any official data that puts net zero in its bad light
The data is there on the system operators site, also on EM6,
https://app.em6.co.nz/ni-wind-forecast
Thanks, but it was historical data I was looking for, for analysis purposes.
climanrecon
There is quarterly data on the MBIE website https://www.mbie.govt.nz/building-and-energy/energy-and-natural-resources/energy-statistics-and-modelling/energy-statistics/electricity-statistics
and there is this site which can give a lot of graphical information on all the stations on the grid https://electricitymap.frenchsta.gg/?timeframe=-7d
A classic case of lunatics running the asylum and we shall have just a different bunch of lunatics in a months time?
this countries ability to capture carbon will be as effective as its ability to catch burglars and illegal boat people
We shouldn’t even be planning to catch CO2, our atmosphere needs another 300-700ppm on top of the 427ppm deficit we have – it’s just another part of the decarbonisation scam that is net zero
New Zealand’s trailblazing policy – should read ‘blazingly irresponsible’ policy.
Yes and the UK is being driven to the same exact scenario by inept Uniparty politicians following WEF mandates
“Whenever government legislates to force an economic outcome, the long term effect will be equal and opposite to that intended”. Newton’s Law of Government Regulations
I remain unclear why anybody would ban EXPLORATION licences. Most are unsuccessful, but if new oil/gas is found, what’s the harm in that? We don’t have to then grant production licences but at least we’d have the data if/when reality intrudes again.
This is because they are very clever and clearly see that by the end of this decade there will be a massive over supply of oil such that you can barely give it away. Well, that is what the eco-activist IEA is saying.
Should boost the labour vote in Aberdeen. What’s the SNP policy today?
Meanwhile, a little to the south of NZ…..
Lost Aerial Photos Hidden From the Nazis Provide Rare Good News About Climate Change | PetaPixel
More “lost” information.
Energy security should be protected, a mandatory requirement for all governments. At the moment it’s become a plaything of the idiocracy; over-educated over-promoted ideologs who’re risking UK security for votes and an ego trip.
If we have blackouts then those responsible for blackout causing policies should expect to go to prison. We have to be much more serious about the Net Zero threat. This is no longer a passing fad. It’s serious.
Government isn’t the solution . . . it’s the problem.
Those who make our laws are not going to make laws that might send them to jail. We know those in charge ruined rent of lives in the Post Office scandal and killed people in the contaminated blood scandal. There are thousands of cases going to the latest NHS maternity scandal. Yet our election is dominated by how marvellous government is and how evil businesses are. We are stupid as a species.
Blocking our licences then importing it! What is WRONG with this picture?
If they want to block anything what about blockading China’s embassy or that of India? Like the cowards of 4th wave feminism it is all about brute politics and easy targets! Strange how silent they are when the left’s favorite religion which is misogynistic to a T is currently being imported as fast as the marxists can make it happen.
Carbon Capture!, show me one full size working CC plant installation- sure they can model performance but so far full scale up has proved unworkable and too expensive- remember, it has been possible to model a battery powered vehicle that does 900m per charge, just one issue, it cannot be scaled up, but looks good on paper.
FFS can no-one see that herein lys the greatest opportunity to make use of both proven Energy sources and new Energy sources, working together to improve the lives of billions with fair price Energy, not promising energy so cheap you will just leave the lights on all day, but energy that is available at a fair price, not exceeding more than 5% of median salary- and while using all known sources to benefit the people, work on R&D to improve both proven and new energy sources performance, rather than this crazy situation where the choice is Renewables or ……..Renewables and hang the cost- ultimately it will be people who will suffer, Heat or Eat is a catchy mantra, but for many going forward it will be a daily reality, coupled with blackouts and all caused by desperate groups convinced they are Right and only They have the Answers.
Put Nett Zero to the Public via a referendum and see just how many people want the solution as offered, but include an optional question to Yes or No- “would you support a Energy policy that made maximum use of all known technologies including- Coal, Gas, Oil, Nuclear, Wind, Solar, Tidal, Hydro, allowing time to develop future Energy sources” – a simple Yes or No, but somehow I feel that any thoughts of involvement by 30+million voters who just may not understand the question and vote the “wrong” way will prevent any politicians from even considering such a democratic option.
… has she been back?
Bob Moran perfectly illustrates UK politics.
https://www.bobmoran.co.uk/paintings/hobsons-arse-original-artwork
uk labour equals more pain for the working class . .
While our govt blocks fracking for natural gas, in the US Marcellus they have found that the flow-back water is a good source of lithium – enough for half of the US’ battery needs, reportedly. The irony!