Offshore Renewable Energy Act 2026

Relevant legislation

View the Offshore Renewable Energy Act 2026 on the New Zealand Legislation website.

Offshore Renewable Energy Act 2026(external link) – New Zealand Legislation

Offshore Renewable Energy Bill Amendment Paper No 571

When the Offshore Renewable Energy Act was passed, Parliament also approved changes that enable the Ministers for Resources and for Energy to jointly make a seabed mining notice designating an area or areas of the sea where there are temporary restrictions certain types of permits from being applied for or granted. These restrictions apply to:

• seabed minerals permits
• new minerals prospecting, exploration or mining permits.

The changes also prevent existing petroleum permits in the area being amended to relate to other minerals and prevent any existing seabed minerals permits from being extended in space in the designated area. If an application for a seabed minerals permit has been made but not determined when an area is designated, that application is stayed and cannot be granted to the extent of the area where the designation applies.

These changes give offshore renewable energy developers greater certainty to invest in offshore renewable energy projects.

Read the changes in the Offshore Renewable Energy Bill Amendment Paper:

Offshore Renewable Energy Bill Amendment Paper(external link) — New Zealand Legislation

Read the previous Energy Minister Simon Watt's press release:

Clearing the path for offshore wind investment(external link) — Beehive.govt.nz

Government commitments

The Act delivers on the Government’s commitment to introduce a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy, as outlined in ElectifyNZ.

Offshore renewable energy has the potential to support a clean energy economy and help New Zealand reach its target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Our role

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is responsible for developing the legislation and is the regulator and administrator of the offshore renewable energy regime.

Our functions include:

• designing the implementation of the application round (including forms and guidance for developers, round specific conditions,  assessment criteria and creating a submissions process)
• receiving and assessing permit applications
• giving advice to the Minister of Energy, as the decision maker of the applications
• maintaining a register of permits
• managing compliance with permits.

Development of the offshore renewable energy regime

The design of the regulatory regime is summarised in the Departmental Disclosure Statement for the Offshore Renewable Energy Bill.

Download the PDF version of the Departmental Disclosure Statement:

Public consultation on developing the regime

We held 2 rounds of public consultation in December 2022 and August 2023 to inform the development of the regime. Feedback generally supported the proposed settings.

We also carried out targeted consultation on the regulations that form part of the regime.

Read the consultation papers below:

Enabling Investment in offshore renewable energy

We consulted on proposed approaches to enabling feasibility studies for offshore renewable energy developments. We received 59 submissions from a wide range of stakeholders and iwi.

Developing a regulatory framework for offshore renewable energy

We sought feedback on proposed regulations to enable offshore renewable energy developments. This was the second discussion document for public consultation on proposals for offshore renewable energy regulation and we received over 50 submissions.

Cost recovery for the offshore renewable energy regulatory regime

Developers with a declared interest in New Zealand and with relevant iwi and hapū were invited to provide views on the proposed fees and levies to fund the regulator functions for the offshore renewable energy regime.

Cabinet decisions on the design of the regime