National Offshore Wind Energy Industry Impact Study released
A National Offshore Wind Energy Industry Impact Study has been released at the Offshore Renewable Energy Forum in Taranaki. It highlights the potential role that offshore wind has to play in accelerating the decarbonisation of the economy and meeting the country’s increasing demand for clean energy.
The study was initiated by offshore wind industry developers BlueFloat and Elemental and supported a collaborative group of energy sector participants, including other offshore wind developers, infrastructure providers and economic development agencies.
The study considers three scenarios, where in each a different capacity of offshore wind is developed and therefore different amounts of energy generated. Common to all three, the benefits include:
- Increasing the volume of renewable energy generated, which in turn will help to decarbonise New Zealand’s economy.
- Contributing to New Zealand’s GDP and creating jobs at the construction, operations and maintenance phases of development, as well as additional opportunities across the supply chain.
- Decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels and reducing New Zealand’s energy emissions.
- Helping to unlock new green energy sources, such as green hydrogen, which could in turn, help to decarbonise industries such as heavy transport and steel production.
- Additional investigations into New Zealand marine species, which will fill important gaps in our current understanding.
Taranaki Offshore Partnership is pleased to have been involved in this study with other offshore wind developers and the wider industry.
To read the full study, click here.