Ref. no. DOIA 2122-2282
8 July 2022
Nicky McLean
[FYI request #19586 email]
Dear Nicky
Thank you for your email of 3 June 2022 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (the
Ministry), requesting the following information under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
Via your organisation's web site a copy of file renewables.xlsx can be obtained, and my attention
for the moment is directed at the entries under the heading Energy Transformation, specifically
those for Wind. You offer calendar year totals in PetaJoules, and starting with the year 2000
(before which there was just the Brooklyn hill turbine and Hau Nui and Tararua had just started),
the table below show your figures followed by mine, from a national database of electricity
data. Apologies for the layout, but fixed-spacing typefaces are not available here.
Year: MBIE other
2000: 0.43 0.50
2001: 0.50 0.48
2002: 0.56 0.55
2003: 0.53 0.52
2004: 1.30 1.29
2005: 2.21 2.20
2006: 2.24 2.22
2007: 3.35 3.31
2008: 3.81 3.76
2009: 5.31 5.26
2010: 5.89 5.84
2011: 7.05 6.66
2012: 7.48 6.87
2013: 7.28 6.71
2014: 7.96 7.01
2015: 8.51 7.22
2016: 8.43 7.74
2017: 7.53 6.88
2018: 7.44 6.79
2019: 8.12 7.49
2020: 8.30 7.70
2021: ?.?? 8.56
As you can see, apart from the year 2000, your figures are consistently higher and often by more
than ten percent. My values are based on the summations of half-hourly generation data, as
metered, easily obtained via a system called Gnash. (Gnash.exe for windows, Gnash for
GNU/ Linux) So my question is 1) where have your values come from, and 2) what is included and
what not. For instance, have any values been based upon the nominal installed capacity (with
some estimate of an annual load factor, say), and have you included some sort of data/ estimate
for miscellaneous wind turbines scattered about, perhaps supplying a factory? For instance, there
are some wind turbines in the Seaview industrial area that might supply internal load and thus
not the public supply even though offsetting the draw on the public supply.
By contrast, the half-hourly data available to Gnash are clearly deficient: wind turbine generation
at Mahinerangi and Horseshoe Bend is lumped in with hydro generation (if it is counted at all) and
so not identified as "wind", and whole wind farms are omitted entirely, as at Flat Hill (near Bluff),
Weld Cone, and Lulworth, as well as for various individual locations such as atop Brooklyn. And
the absence of data for the new wind farm at Turitea will shortly be the subject of an OIA request
to the Electricity authority.
Thus, I expect Gnash's data to be "low", but, not by so much as appears to be the case. So, what
makes up your data?
In response to part 1) of your request, the Ministry received the data in the renewables.xlsx spreadsheet
directly from renewable energy generators, as part of the production of the Energy in New Zealand
publication. While the information is supplied by generators, a breakdown by generator is commercially
sensitive, and therefore withheld under section 9(2)(b)(ii) of the Act.
In response to part 2) of your request, there is no further breakdown supplied to the Ministry beyond the
above. Therefore, the Ministry does not hold the information to provide the clarification requested (in
accordance with section 18(e) of the Act).
In terms of section 9(1) of the Act, I am satisfied that, in the circumstances, the withholding of this
information is not outweighed by other considerations that render it desirable to make the information
available in the public interest.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision, in accordance
with section 28(3) of the Act. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Mike Hayward
Manager, Markets
Digital, Data and Insights
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