About offshore renewable energy

Why offshore renewable energy matters for New Zealand

The Government wants to diversify New Zealand’s energy supply to deliver affordable, reliable, and sustainable electricity across the country.

Offshore renewable energy has the potential to provide additional electricity generation from offshore resources such as wind, waves, tides and solar energy. The development of offshore renewable energy projects may contribute to New Zealand's future electricity supply and support broader economic activity associated with the construction and operation of energy infrastructure.

How offshore renewable energy supports our energy goals

Depending on the technology and development offshore renewable energy may:

• help reduce our reliance on non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuels
• support net-zero carbon emissions by 2050
• help to meet our growing energy needs
• improve our energy resilience and independence
• enable greater electrification which plays a key role in decarbonising our energy system and supporting the transition to clean energy.

Types of offshore renewable energy

Offshore renewable energy can be generated from:

• Wind
• Waves
• Tides
• Ocean currents
• Light or heat from the sun

How offshore renewable energy is used around the world

Offshore renewable energy technologies are being developed and used in many countries.

Offshore wind is currently the most widely used offshore renewable energy technology. Many countries, including China, the United Kingdom, Germany and Denmark have operational offshore wind farms. Others have projects which are progressing but are not yet operational.

Other offshore renewable energy technologies, including offshore solar, wave energy and tidal energy, have also been tested or deployed in a range of countries.

How wind turbines work

Wind turbines convert wind energy into electrical energy in the following way:

Why New Zealand is well suited to offshore renewable energy

New Zealand has excellent conditions for offshore wind farms due to high average wind speeds. The country also has one of the world’s largest Exclusive Economic Zones, an area of sea in which it has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind.

How the offshore renewable energy regime interacts with other legislative regimes

The offshore renewable energy regime has been designed to operate alongside other legislative regimes that govern the use, management and protection of New Zealand’s marine resources and marine environment. An overview of the offshore renewable energy regime can be found on the following webpage.

Overview of the offshore renewable energy regime

Developers that hold either a feasibility permit or a commercial permit under the offshore renewable energy regime are required to obtain relevant consents under other regimes (e.g. the Resource Management Act 1991) to carry out certain feasibility activities and to develop ORE infrastructure. Only holders of a feasibility or commercial permit are able to apply for consents related to ORE infrastructure.

Protecting marine ecosystems

The feasibility permit period gives developers time to study potential environmental impacts and find ways to reduce them.

Developers will be required to obtain the necessary resource or marine consents before they can develop ORE infrastructure.

Economic and investment potential

Energy resilience

Offshore wind farms generate renewable electricity on a large scale and more consistently than other options.

Economic growth and regional development

Experience from overseas is that offshore renewable energy projects can support economic growth and regional development, both during their development and once they are operational. Overseas examples show that these projects also have the potential of enabling existing industries to decarbonise and expand, while also encouraging future-focused industries to establish themselves in New Zealand.