Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Mike Casey: Rewiring Aotearoa CEO says declining gas supplies could accelerate the shift to cleaner and cheaper energy

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Mike Casey: Rewiring Aotearoa CEO says declining gas supplies could accelerate the shift to cleaner and cheaper energy · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: New PwC report the Maui gas field could run dry
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: by twenty twenty seven. Myth and X. This is Tartanaki,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: largest gas user in the country, could shut early next year.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Report was done for the Gas Industry company basically says
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: we're on the road to running out of natural stuff.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Mike Casey rewiring alted oh CEO with me this morning.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Morning, Mike, Good morning, Ryan. My wait to pick off
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: a Friday.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Hey, what does this tell us anything? We don't know?
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, we know, we kind of know we're running
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: short on gas, don't we.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think this report basically tells us that
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: the solution from the gas industry is more gas, and
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: in reality, we need to figure out how to get
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: New Zealanders off gas as fast as we can.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: But they have a point, don't they, That there's this
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: turning point in the twenty thirties where we've got lots
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: of demand still manufacturing, petrochemicals, food production. You can't transition overnight.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: It's going to be a tough transition. But I think
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: the main thing is we have to look at what's
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: in the best interest of everyday new ylinders, and that's
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: certainly going to be giving them off gas. I think
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: they're overestimating the amount of demands that is going to
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: be for there is going to be four gas and
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: obviously trying to justify allergy gas terminals and things like that.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: But the real short answer here is that gas is
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: a really expensive, inefficient technology, especially in our homes, and
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: the more that we can do to electrify those homes,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: get our hot water off gas, get our spatial heating
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: off gas, and get our cooking off gas, the better
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: it's going to be for New Zealanders.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: And where do we get the electricity from?
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: So this is one of the big things, right you're
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: referring heads to the dry year in particular. Yeah, yes,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: So we need to look at very seriously at the
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: energy system of New Zealand and how do we build
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: out the cheapest and basically the most affordable energy system
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: we can. I believe that's certainly a rollout of renewables.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: And when you look at the renewables that are in
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: the pipeline now, I think the dry your problem is
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: largely going to solve itself provided we make sure that
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: the renewables that are consented and are looking to be
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: built R and D built and they're built quite quickly.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: But even if you look at the most renewable as
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: solar and Europe, et cetera. I mean, there are times
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: when everybody says, the wind doesn't blow, the sun doesn't shine,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: the rain doesn't fall, et cetera.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: It's a classic fossil fuel industry line, isn't it. But
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: you know, if it doesn't rain and the sun doesn't shine,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: you're usually in a pretty interesting situation. I think with
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: the weather, the long story shorts, we have these amazing
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: hydro dams that are great batteries, and when we're looking
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: about seasonal shortages, we're always going to have sun throughout
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: the season. And so one of the big things we
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: can do really is generate more energy, more electricity through renewables,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: so that we can drain those dams a little bit
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: less and ultimately hold onto our water for longer and
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: make our system way more secure.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: At what date, on what date will we have enough
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: renewable energy to power the entire country, including all of
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the aforementioned you know, private sector stuff that needs to
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: be taken care of.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: That is something that's going to be quite difficult to answer,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: and I think they may always be the need for
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: a small amount of fossil fuels for that backup for
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: the last a five to ten percent of our energy
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: system doesn't really need to be gas. I think we've
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: been burning gas in our electricity system because it's been
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: there and it's been convenient to do so. We have
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: other fossil fuels in New Zealand as well, like diesel
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: and coal, and our argument really is it's roll out renewables.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Let's be pragmatic though, make sure that at the end
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: of it that if we do start to get into
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: a situation where we run out more than that we
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: should use the We should use the fossil fuels that
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: we already import to make sure that we keep the
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: lights on and keep our economy going.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: All right, Mike, appreciate your time. Mike Case is CEO
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: of Rewiring out here Doha.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: to news Talks it'd be from five am weekdays, or
• 3:45
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