Our 2011 election manifesto - Labour Party

problem. After more than 10 years at attempts to create adequate competition, we
are losing patience.
Security of electricity supply
It is essential that New Zealand‟s homes and businesses have a secure supply of electricity.
A large part of our existing electricity generation has come from renewable hydro stations –
but the limitations of lake storage mean that supply can be put under strain during dry years.
Labour will work to ensure a secure energy supply that provides for the country‟s
energy needs now and into the future, while reducing the impact on the environment
through increased use of renewable sources of energy.
Diversity of supply is an important means of ensuring cheap, reliable electricity is always
available. This means complementing our existing hydro, wind and geothermal electricity
generation capacity with new technologies – including utilising New Zealand‟s abundant and
renewable marine (tidal and wave) and biomass resources.
Environmental costs
An assessment of the costs of any new generation plant or energy infrastructure should
include all environmental costs. That may, for example, be the landscape or biodiversity
values of undammed rivers or sections of rivers, given that so many have already been
dammed.
For renewable energy generation, the relative degree of reversibility of the adverse
environmental effects of proposed generation technologies will be taken into account.
Labour will strengthen the National Policy Statement for Renewable Electricity
Generation 2011 by encouraging renewable generation with low environmental
impacts, with a particular view to protecting rivers from being dammed.
An assessment will also include the greenhouse gas produced, or avoided, by the project.
These will be measured and priced through the ETS.
Labour will ensure that an assessment of the costs of any new generation plant or
energy infrastructure includes all the environmental costs involved.
This is consistent with Labour‟s goal for the whole energy sector to be carbon neutral by
2040, and with the intermediate target for 90% of our electricity to be generated from
renewable sources by 2025. Labour is determined to achieve the 90% target.
Labour will ensure that 90 per cent of New Zealand‟s electricity is generated from
renewable sources by 2025.
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