August 12 (SeeNews) – Renewables have reached a 39.5% share of New Zealand’s total primary energy supply in 2014, with geothermal energy at the lead, according to figures by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

The share of geothermal energy in energy supply supply was 22.2%, hydropower accounted for 9.7%, and the remaining 7.7% came from other renewables such as biomass and wind, shows the latest Energy in New Zealand (ENZ) annual report.

“[The 39.5% renewables share] is a record high and places New Zealand third in the world, behind only Iceland and Norway – countries which have long been considered world leaders on this important measure,” commented energy minister Simon Bridges. In 2013 the renewable energy share was 38.4%.

The table below shows production figures for renewable energy sources in the country.

Source Energy production
in 2014,
petajoules (PJ)		 Share in total renewable primary energy
Geothermal 200.1 56%
Hydro 87.6 24%
Bioenergy and Solar 62.0 17%
Wind 8.0 2%

New Zealand also saw record-high expenditure for oil and gas exploration in 2014, surpassing NZD 2 billion (USD 1.3bn/EUR 1.2bn). Bridges stressed how important energy diversity is to achieving energy security, accessibility and affordability, as well as environmental sustainability.

Earlier in the year it was announced that the country has also reached 79.9% renewable electricity last year, the highest since 1996.

(NZD 1 = USD 0.651/EUR 0.588)

by

Source: renewables.seenews.com , www.metaefficient.com