ONE Party is calling for an inquiry into power generation capacity in New Zealand. On the 9th of August parts of the North Island went into power brownouts because the cold night put more load on the network than the generating companies were able to produce. This event highlights some of the infrastructure issues the power industry in New Zealand is facing.
The issues causing the power issues were:
- weather issues didn't allow wind turbine use;
- the government cut the production of coal in New Zealand and instead imported 1.084 million tonnes of inferior Indonesian coal in 2020 to power the Huntly site;
- lack of maintained equipment caused some hydro plants to shut down because of lake weed issues;
- a large percentage of natural gas supply is now imported as the government is closing an excellent New Zealand resource down, and logistics issues at our ports are holding up supply. There are several issues here - although the government is blaming the power generators, the government themselves must take responsibility for shortsighted and overhastily executed environmental policy that is hurting New Zealand and its people. The government wants to appear forward-thinking as far as the environment is concerned, promoting electric vehicles and alternative energy when we don't have the capacity to meet our existing electricity needs.
ONE Party’s environment policy supports the use of clean coal technologies, using New Zealand coal for power generation and heating systems in schools, hospitals, etc. This coal technology used in other countries is cleaner and environmentally sustainable.
ONE Party supports responsible stewardship of the resources afforded us as a nation. The concept of sustainability is noble on the surface. One of the commonly used and widely adopted definitions of sustainable development is ‘meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’
Essentially, sustainability is about the relationship between people and the planet; remembering that we are inextricably part of this planet and that our societies (including economies) depend upon healthy biological and physical systems.
ONE Party is calling for an energy infrastructure audit before policy to promote electrical vehicles progresses to the point where we cannot supply enough power to run the country.
ONE Party believes a common-sense approach to sustainability is needed. We believe New Zealand must act according to our sovereignty and not align with foreign governments and United Nations agendas while maintaining good stewardship over our resources.
For more common sense sustainable policy take a look at our policies.
