The trilemma facing energy industry, NZ well placed

Geneva - The global energy industry is facing three challenges: the war in Ukraine has put energy security in the spotlight; coal output is rising; and energy prices have increased.

For New Zealand, it can be self-sufficient with domestically produced energy. The total production of all electric energy producing facilities is 43 bn kWh, about 108 percent of requirements.

New Zealand has 17 wind farms operating. These wind farms currently have a combined installed capacity of 690 megawatts.  They supply around six percent of New Zealand's annual electricity generation, which is about the same amount of electricity as 300,000 Kiwi homes use in a year.

Hydro-electric power accounts for 57 percent of the total electricity generation in New Zealand. Sadly, Aotearoa still burns a lot of coal.

A global survey of the energy industry highlights the impact of this trilemma and how the industry is dealing with it, the World Economic Forum says. 

The world’s energy industry is facing a trilemma. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exposed the energy industry and the world to the fragility of energy security.

Coal plants are being fired up and renewables projects are coming under pressure and energy consumers are being pressed on the cost of energy.

This trilemma is also in transition. In a complex and difficult year for the energy industry, we see the trilemma leading to competing priorities.

But, in a decarbonised energy system, energy sustainability, affordability and security all pull in the same direction and the public and private sectors can resolve this threefold problem with a new approach to scaling and implementation.

In a complex and difficult year for the energy industry, the trilemma is leading to competing priorities.

Few in the industry believe the transition will deliver secure, clean and affordable energy in the next decade to all parts of the energy system in their operating countries.

Perhaps the most concerning finding of new research is that only 39 percent feel optimistic about reaching their organisation’s decarbonisation targets, with as much as 29 percent feeling pessimistic about this goal.

The energy transition accelerated through the covid pandemic and the markets are striving to keep up, across transmission and distribution systems, supply chains, permitting and licensing, financing, infrastructure and the workforce.

The renewables sector is expanding at speed, despite the challenges of power grid capacity, energy price volatility, inflation, supply chain failures, regulatory red tape and delays in supporting infrastructure projects.

There has been a sharp drop in the proportion of electrical power respondents optimistic about industry growth for the year ahead. Half now say they are more focussed on short-term than long-term strategies, up from 34 percent a year ago.

The energy industry has strong expectations to increase investment in clean energy sources, carriers and enablers, however.

Half of the energy professionals involved in the research expect their organizations to invest in low-carbon hydrogen / ammonia (52 percent) in the year ahead. There are similar proportions when it comes to wind (49 percent) and solar (46 percent).

Over a third (37 percent) expect their organisations to increase investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS), while 57 percent say CCS will scale up rapidly in the next five years.