The same thing happened also under the previous Government. Autumn is a low load time of the year so the Generation Companies plan their maintenance around this time of the year. Three generation plants, including two hydro plants, were out for maintenance so weren’t available to provide generation this morning for an unseasonal polar blast overnight (so no solar generation) and no wind (so no wind generation). Reliance on renewals to the extent NZ (and the rest of the world has) isn’t the answer a large number of people think it is.I’m going to disagree and then agree. Stopping renewables is smart, especially in NZ. But pushing gas is retarded. It’s expensive as fuck.
Can you guys build out more hydro?
In terms of new hydro, environmental groups have gained so much influence, the latest one planned as part of the water system for Hawkes Bay, was stopped due to intense lobbying. It seems for now, the only new generation “allowed” by the environmentalists will be wind, solar and geothermal (and only one of those isn’t subject to nature due to lack of wind or light).
It would have been interesting to see how the green lobby groups would have reacted to Labour’s proposed NZ Battery or Pumped Hydro scheme at Lake Onslow.