WHAT OPPORTUNITIES ARE EVIDENT FOR GEOTHERMAL WITH THE LOSS OF KIWI GAS?

Abstract

The New Zealand Government's April 2018 decision to stop petroleum exploration bidding outside Taranaki will reduce the amount of energy that the oil and gas sector will produce in New Zealand. This will create an increasing shortfall in supply of indigenous gas production against current demand of 200 PJ/a (56 TWh/a).
This paper will outline what opportunities are likely to be available for geothermal companies on the back of these changes as a supply/demand gap emerges. It will show that as the gas market shrinks, different gas customers will take different decisions on what capital investment best fits their business.
Small high value gas markets will remain with gas while electric generation, industrial heating and commercial uses will shift to alternatives. As geothermal electricity generation currently solely provides baseload generation, the challenge for geothermal will be to replace mothballed gas baseload and diversify into higher margin peaking services.