3 Mar 2016

New standards for energy sector possible

11:15 am on 3 March 2016

The Government is considering setting new environmental standards for the energy sector.

It already has a plan, inherited from an earlier government, of requiring 90 percent of electricity to be renewable by 2025. But this country has already passed 80 percent, and the 90 percent target is widely seen as an easy hit.

Energy Minister Simon Bridges told an energy conference in Auckland New Zealand should also increase the renewable percent of total energy, which would also cover the overwhelmingly fossil-fuel based transport sector.

The renewable share of total energy was 40 percent, but Mr Bridges said he believed it could be higher.

He was also considering setting an additional target which would cover so-called energy intensity - the amount of energy required to produce each dollar of national wealth.