“You don’t get the opportunity to help change an energy system every day,” Hiringa Energy chief executive Andrew Clennett says.

A new package of infrastructure investments will help restart New Zealand’s economy and boost the energy sector, the BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC) says. Executive director Tina Schirr says more than $5 billion of projects across New Zealand are expected to create about 20,000 jobs.

New Zealand is set to benefit from New Zealand Green Investment Finance’s (NZGIF) move to support projects that will cut emissions at Wellington’s CentrePort, the Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC) say.

Today it was announced NZGIF will provide $15 million to electrify vehicles, generate renewable energy and upgrade energy efficiency at the port.

The strong outcomes we have delivered this year have been based on your input and the input of other leading industry partners. The involvement of experts from across the energy sector, both the private and public sectors, and academia is unique and important to us as we seek to understand and shape New Zealand’s energy policies. The government, other political parties and others are actively using the Trilemma framework as a coordinating principle in the framing of policy ideas. This indicates our continuing successful influence in shaping New Zealand’s energy agenda in a way that reflects the achievement of balanced policies consistent with improving our Trilemma performance. Our highlights of the past year can be found in this review.

ChargeSmart chief executive Nigel Broomhall was on his third trip to this US in 2020 when countries started going into lockdown in response to Covid-19.

The Electricity Authority’s new guidelines for transmission pricing spell the end of a decade of uncertainty, BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC) Executive Director Tina Schirr says.

Keeping the world’s transition to a lower carbon economy on track post-covid will require greater private sector investment, New Zealand energy executives heard last week.

New Zealand has the potential to be a world leader in innovative clean energy. But to achieve this – and to accelerate the post-Covid economic recovery – local firms must partner with large international companies, says World Energy Council member Massimiliano Cervo. Government subsidies and pump priming can only do so much to revive the economy, Cervo told a BusinessNZ Energy Council webinar this morning.

There are growing calls to the government to not lose the environmental gains we've made through weeks of lockdown. Instead they should use the 2020 Budget to take the opportunity to invest in future sustainability. BusinessNZ Energy Council's Tina Schirr says there's a big case for creating more sustainable options. Professor Alan Brent from Victoria University of Wellington says every time there has been a massive reduction in energy consumption because of a crisis, immediately after there is a massive spike. Economist Professor Ilan Noy says democratic governments are worried they will be perceived to be using the crisis as a cover to push long term agendas that doesn't have popular support. Climate Change Minister James Shaw points out the climate challenges don't go away because of the Covid-19 crisis.

The World Energy Council has released survey results on how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the world’s energy systems, and has outlined four scenarios for economic recovery. WEC ran two surveys – on Business Impact and Preparedness and Future Outlook – receiving more than 220 responses from energy professionals in 53 countries.