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Shane Jones: Resources Minister explains why Crown funds should be directed towards geothermal sector · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks. The'd be
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 3: The government's putting more money into developing geothermal projects. Resources
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  Speaker 3: Minister Shane Jones has announced this afternoon that fifty million
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  Speaker 3: dollars has been ring fence for exploration and project building
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  Speaker 3: and he joins us now high Shane Hi agreeda how
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  Speaker 3: many projects does fifty million dollars get you?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we announced three today. One particularly important one is
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  Speaker 2: going to represent actual drilling of wells around Fakatani because
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  Speaker 2: we're confident that businesses he will be able to tap
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  Speaker 2: into geothermal energy, but those individual businesses don't have the
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  Speaker 2: three million dollars to take the risk. An additional one
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  Speaker 2: will be happening in Rotoro and Codo, where the resources
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  Speaker 2: are quite profound. However, before we moved to full on extraction,
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  Speaker 2: the Crown wants to work with private sector partners and
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  Speaker 2: landowners to ensure that the resource sustainability won't be compromised
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  Speaker 2: if we intensify both investment and utilization in those locations.
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  Speaker 3: So why is it What is the success rate of
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  Speaker 3: these projects? Do you think?
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  Speaker 2: Well, of course some of the drilling does strike dry wells.
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  Speaker 2: But I want everyone to remind themselves if it hadn't
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  Speaker 2: have been for our fore fathers and their wives back
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  Speaker 2: in the nineteen fifties and sixties, we wouldn't have a
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  Speaker 2: geothermal resource that's been commercialized in New Zealand. The Crown
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  Speaker 2: stepped up to the plate in the nineteen fifties did
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  Speaker 2: an enormous amount of drilling, not always successful. That a
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  Speaker 2: number of those drawl holes have turned into major electricity suppliers.
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  Speaker 2: And if the private sector can work with the Crown
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  Speaker 2: and we can insist in some de risking on land
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  Speaker 2: where we know the substantial potential, it's a win win situation.
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  Speaker 1: Okay.
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  Speaker 3: So if it seems like a reasonable success rate, why
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  Speaker 3: can't they find the private backing to do it without
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  Speaker 3: government assistance?
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  Speaker 2: Okay? So if you're a gentail and you dominate the
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  Speaker 2: provision of electricity, why would you supply more electricity if
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  Speaker 2: it's going to drop the price. This is why be
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  Speaker 2: telling you media people, the reason that our electricity system
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  Speaker 2: is not delivering accordable energy or indear or indeed secure
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  Speaker 2: levels of energy is because the gentailors are gaming the market.
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  Speaker 2: They continue to invest in such a way that it
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  Speaker 2: suits their individual business.
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  Speaker 3: The only I can get investment is it these people.
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  Speaker 2: Well, a number of the investors are putting their own
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  Speaker 2: money into the project. We are working with Eastland. They've
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  Speaker 2: put twenty million dollars in. We are putting some money in. Sadly,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of the locations are on Mildi Land, and
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  Speaker 2: that itself is a major complication because a lot of
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  Speaker 2: the HUP who are divided as to whether or not
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  Speaker 2: that time we should be used. I said to them today,
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  Speaker 2: it's about time you thought about national security and economic
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  Speaker 2: resilience and don't trot out any more treaty fairy tales
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  Speaker 2: to the mutiva.
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  Speaker 3: Now, when are we going to get the energy? Let's
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  Speaker 3: say that they get onto this as fast as they
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  Speaker 3: possibly can hundred percent. When do we actually start to
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  Speaker 3: see this on the grid.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, it'll be a matter of years, sadly, but I
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  Speaker 2: mean where the situation is worstened also by the attitude
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  Speaker 2: of regional councils. You may know sixty million dollars were
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  Speaker 2: dedicated about eighteen months ago for super critical. Now that's
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  Speaker 2: a bit of a movie shot. I accept that. But
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  Speaker 2: if they can go five to eight kilometers. Ie the
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  Speaker 2: drillers into the earth and tap into a hitherto unknown
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  Speaker 2: massive source of energy. Then it'll completely transform the way
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  Speaker 2: in which electricity and energy is derived in New Zealand. Sadly,
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  Speaker 2: I'm advised that they're being hobbled by some very narrow
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  Speaker 2: and very troubling attitudes in the regional council from Micato.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm going to get to the bottom of that.
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  Speaker 2: We are not going to have energy held ransom by unelectable,
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  Speaker 2: unaccountable bureaucrats and regional council That's why I want to
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  Speaker 2: destroy regional councils.
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  Speaker 3: Shane Kelly E Colt from Westpac was on before about
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  Speaker 3: half an hour ago, and he reckons that we have
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  Speaker 3: about a seventy five percent chance that we're going to
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  Speaker 3: end up with some kind of rationing of fuel. What
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  Speaker 3: do you reckon?
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  Speaker 2: Well, once we go into category three and four, Cally
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  Speaker 2: may very well be correct, but all I can do
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  Speaker 2: is repeat, and I have to believe that we'll be
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  Speaker 2: told the truth by the energy companies that they have
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  Speaker 2: sufficient flows of fuel on the vessels and also in country.
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  Speaker 2: I suspect what Cally's referring to can the refineries continue
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  Speaker 2: to operate if there is growing uncertainty as to where
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  Speaker 2: they get the feedstock. Now, the feedstock, disproportionately for Southeast
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  Speaker 2: Asia comes from the Middle East, but it's not the
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  Speaker 2: only source of feedstock. And I suspect what he's also
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  Speaker 2: talking about. Even if there is an early cessation to
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  Speaker 2: these hostilities, there's a whole lot of structural disruptiveness that
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  Speaker 2: we're going to have to work through. But I don't
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  Speaker 2: want anyone panic in feeling that there is not enough
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  Speaker 2: fuel in New Zealand, or indeed not enough fuel on
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  Speaker 2: the water. We are operating within the framework statutory holding
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  Speaker 2: obligations from the companies. But I also want to remind you, Heather,
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  Speaker 2: we went to a just in time model to suit
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  Speaker 2: the oil import companies and it was introduced by the
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  Speaker 2: Labor government when they closed down the refinery. I don't
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  Speaker 2: know why you people don't agree with me on the poe.
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  Speaker 3: What are you talking about. We spent time on Friday
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  Speaker 3: agreeing with you on this.
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  Speaker 2: Take you up on it. We've got three hundred million
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  Speaker 2: liters of redundant storage space in rua kaka rukaka which
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  Speaker 2: means two parrots. Sadly one hundred parrots arrived and they
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  Speaker 2: want to stop sand mining there, but that's another matter.
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  Speaker 2: And there is no shortage of redundant space that can
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  Speaker 2: be recapitalized and this is a matter that the officials
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  Speaker 2: with Channel the Importation Facility will be working through once
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  Speaker 2: we come out of these set of challenges.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, good stuff. Listen, Thank you very much for taking
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  Speaker 3: the time to talk to us. Go well, let's Shane Jones,
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  Speaker 3: the Resources Minister.
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