New Zealand Energy Quarterly – March 2026

Main highlights for this quarter

• Renewables supplied 94.5% of electricity, the second consecutive quarter that the share of electricity generation from renewables exceeded 90%.
• Driving this was favourable hydro and wind conditions, up 19.6% and 20.1% respectively. Alongside this, capacity additions over the past year contributing to record solar generation of 373 GWh, up 50.2% on the previous March quarter.
• Thermal generation dropped sharply, with gas down 67.4% and coal down 65.6%, reflecting strong output from renewable generation sources.
• As a result, emissions from electricity generation remained low, at 420 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (kt CO₂-e).
• Electricity demand increased 2.2%, with increased use seen in the industrial (+4.8%), commercial (+3.6%), and residential (+2.2%) sectors. This was partly offset by a decline in agriculture use (-11.1%).
• Gas production fell 16% and gas use fell 25%, with gas storage levels increasing to near capacity.
• Disruption to global oil markets had limited impacts on energy supply in the March 2026 quarter as fuel importers generally secure shipments several months in advance. However, the quarter did see an increase in fuel prices, and a 3.6% increase in sales of diesel for transport use.

Read the summary for this quarter

New Zealand Energy Quarterly March 2026 summary

Read the media release for this quarter

Renewable generation surges as solar shines

Access the data

For more detailed data, see the relevant page:

• Electricity statistics
• Oil statistics
• Gas statistics
• Coal statistics
• Energy prices
• Electricity cost and price monitoring
• Greenhouse gas emissions

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