The Bioenergy Association of New Zealand (BANZ) welcomed the New Zealand Government’s support for bioenergy but said it doesn’t go far enough. Source: Timberbiz
“It is good to see three new carbon reduction initiatives for carbon reduction announced by the Minister on Monday. However, they will not provide the wide range of benefits that other policies could achieve,” Mr Rob Mallinson, the chair of the Bioenergy Association said.
“In particular the opportunity referred to by the Minister, of switching from coal to wood fuel which would not only assist the individual businesses but would assist regional economic development, create additional employment and provide opportunities for Maori land owners.
“Switching to wood fuel also provides a number of environmental and climate change benefits.”
Mr Mallinson agreed with the Minister that, “New Zealand’s forestry sector has significant quantities of wood that would otherwise go to waste and there are real opportunities to turn this into heat.
“However, it is difficult for regions to develop a renewable resource without businesses committed to using it. It is also difficult to persuade industrial and commercial heat users to switch to renewables without an assured supply.”
Mr Mallinson said that it was great that the Minister signalled that the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) is currently exploring the feasibility of solving this issue by creating a network of supply and demand through a renewable heat hub so as to provide a security of energy supply and reduced costs for industrial and commercial heat users.
This initiative requires greater support from Government, as it is a typical “infant industry” problem where there are a number of players but it needs a core of parties to get it started. This is often a good area for government assistance. Government can back off once the wood fuel supply market is operating efficiently.
Mr Mallinson said that the Bioenergy Association was preparing a number of tools that would encourage the development of the wood fuel supply market but the association’s resources are small and limited and it is not able to fund all the work that should be done.
“Without Government assistance the opportunities will not be achieved for some years – with Government assistance we can start getting the employment, economic growth and environmental benefits almost immediately,” he said.
“New Zealand has immense untapped potential for bioenergy, particularly from our forests.
“A strong local bioenergy industry would reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, and also bring huge economic and social benefits through increased employment. It would also go a long way to increasing New Zealand’s contribution to climate change reduction.
“Bioenergy is based on well proven technology and so doesn’t require research or low probability exploration such as for petroleum, but what it needs is facilitation so as to speed up growth of the market.”
