New Zealand Breaks Renewable Energy Record

The share of renewable energy on the grid in New Zealand is the highest it has been in close to 20 years, Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges said.

The share of electricity generated from renewable resources in 2014 was 79.9 per cent, a 5 per cent increase from the previous year.

“New Zealand’s share of renewable electricity generation is the fourth largest in the world,” Bridges said.

The government attributed the rise to the growth in geothermal generation, which more than doubled in the last decade.

New Zealand last held an auction for oil and gas exploration in December 2014, which Bridges said was the most successful to date. Around 149 million barrels of oil reserves remain in fields already in production and gas production was near 450 million cubic feet per day in 2011.

The government aims to have 90 per cent of its electricity supplies through renewable resources by 2025.

Original article by Daniel Graeber, UPI, March 26, 2015.