Investment for the future or bargaining chips at the amalgamation table?
The man behind Waikato Regional Council’s new 2050 energy strategy plan claims it will boost jobs, reduce emissions by 77% and pump another 1.5% into GDP.
However, some hold reservations about the strategy’s validity and it’s 10 year, $4.5 billion cost.
The plan, by principal strategic advisor Blair Dickie, focuses on creating security, affordability and sustainable energy for the Waikato region.
It envisions creating two mature hydro stations, increasing investment and use of geothermal resources in Taupo and expanding solar panel networks, grid connected Agrisolar as well as onshore/offshore wind.
Dickie said the council will require external funding to push the strategy forward, comparing bringing different parties together as a “jigsaw puzzle”.
Those parties, Dickie pointed to, include electricity generators such as Mercury, primary producers such as Fonterra as well as the logistics sector who could look to electrify more rail.
"That is not something we have a lot of levers with but what we're trying to do is show leadership and what can be done... it's showing leadership in the form of providing what's possible," Dickie said.
Taxpayer Union’s head of communications Tory Relf said it’s “very hard” to keep politicians and councils accountable with a promise as elongated as 2050, especially considering amalgamation.
“There’s no way taxpayers can know who should be accountable for targets set when the authority creating them won’t even exist any more,” Relf added.
When asked about what possible effect amalgamating councils may have, Dickie said the work needs to happen for the region regardless, describing the structure of local government as "just one of the changes along the way".
"Things are changing all the time,“ he said.
"We're futureproofing that by working directly with all the parties involved with the creation of a forum so it won't have as big an impact."
Dickie said the region had an opportunity to source energy locally but "we just need some collective endeavour... there's a lot of good brains out there".
“Short‑term fixes and tinkering around the edges won’t deliver the secure, affordable and sustainable energy future our communities and businesses need.”
The price point was a major concern for Relf, who worried the taxpayer will bear the brunt if funding falls through from private investors.
“Households are already under real pressure, so the Council needs to prove this will actually lower costs and improve reliability before asking the public to back it,” she said.
“Big promises about future growth don’t pay today’s power bills, and they’re no substitute for a credible funding plan.”
The Waikato Times queried energy minister Simeon Brown if Government had been approached for funding and if he believed it to be a viable strategy for local council.
“The Minister welcomes communities taking an interest in energy security locally and for New Zealand. The Government's focus is on developing an energy system that provides abundant, affordable and reliable energy for all households and businesses,” the response read.
