KEY POINTS:
The Government is looking at ways to fast-track several renewable energy consent applications to help reach the ambitious goals in the draft New Zealand Energy Strategy, Energy Minister David Parker says.
The Government was considering a "consolidated call-in process" for wind and geothermal projects that would enable a pool of projects to be called in and considered by the same decision-making panel, Parker told the Wind Energy Conference in Wellington yesterday.
A "call-in" is an existing process under the Resource Management Act that can be used to provide a shorter and more cost-effective consent process while respecting the need to balance national and local issues.
Contact Energy says it has support from the Government and the Greens for call-ins on its proposed $2 billion investment in new wind and geothermal generation over the next five years.
It says if it doesn't get necessary consents by mid-2008 it will go ahead with construction of the Otahuhu C gas-fired plant.
Parker said that while the consolidated call process would not guarantee the outcome for any particular project, "it would on balance, be likely to speed up the decision-making process, increase the quantity of consented sites, and establish de facto benchmarks for environmental performance".
But Wind Energy Association chief executive Fraser Clark said a consolidated call process could cause even more delays and would favour big projects over smaller ones, creating commercial inconsistencies.
"We would be much happier with equal and consistent treatment of projects no matter what part of New Zealand you are in."
Clark said the quickest and fairest path to obtaining consent for renewable projects should be through local authorities and the Government should give them better guidelines for balancing energy needs with environmental objectives.
He believed that could be achieved by national policy statements and national environmental standards set by the Government.
Parker said the Government was working on an environmental standard for electricity transmission and was considering one for generation. However, advice indicated that it might be of limited use, he said.
Under its draft energy strategy, the Government says new electricity generation should come as far as possible from renewable sources.
Currently just 2 per cent of electricity is generated by wind, despite the "roaring forties" making this country one of the best for wind farming.
Bernhard Voll of Allco Wind Energy Australia told the conference the expense and complexity of gaining permission for windfarms was comparable to gaining consents for nuclear plants and waste sites in Germany in the 1970s.
