6. JEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader—Green) Link to this
to the Minister of Energy
How will Solid Energy’s plan to produce around 50,000 barrels of diesel per day from Southland’s lignite coal contribute to achieving the Prime Minister’s goal of carbon neutrality, and is this what he had in mind when he said to a New Zealand Minerals Conference that coal as a resource represented a “considerable opportunity” in the new and evolving energy sector?
Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister of Energy) Link to this
The 2005 speech that the member quoted from was not given by me; nor was it given on my behalf. I think it was misreported in one newspaper. In terms of what was said by officials on the day, their next sentence stated: “The challenge is now with the industry to prove the technology exists to extract and process the resource while also managing carbon emissions.”
Jeanette Fitzsimons Link to this
Can he confirm that carbon capture and storage, the technology that officials were referring to, is still unproven and likely to be very expensive, that it cannot be used in vehicles, and that therefore our emissions from transport would rise if diesel were made from coal?
I can confirm that carbon capture and storage technology is at an early stage. There are ventures to develop practical applications of it in Norway, in China, in North America, and, soon to be, in Australia. The point in respect of transport emissions is well made. Even if we sequester the carbon in the production of diesel from coal it would still have greenhouse gas emissions when used in an internal combustion motor, so from that point of view the member is correct. I would also note that Solid Energy, through its subsidiary Biodiesel New Zealand, is currently producing 1 million litres of bio-diesel a year, and today has announced that it is looking to expand that to 70 million litres per annum.
Darren HughesCan the Minister tell the House how substantial New Zealand’s lignite resources are, and could they be used in the future?
It is true that New Zealand has very large quantities of low-grade coal—lignite—and it is possible that these resources may be able to be used in the future for some purposes, without causing undue environmental harm. Also, I would add that it seems unlikely to me that this lignite would be developed without carbon capture and storage technology.
Peter BrownNoting those answers, will the Minister be categoric and tell us whether he shares the view that the announcement by Solid Energy—that it can access enough lignite to support a world-scale liquid fuels plant for more than 40 years—is the best news the energy sector has received in a long time?
I think it is at such a preliminary stage—so many years in advance—and there are so many technological hurdles to be overcome, including carbon capture and storage, that even if it is good news it is many years into the future.
Jeanette Fitzsimons Link to this
In the light of that answer, can the Minister confirm that even if carbon capture and storage for the conversion of coal to diesel were to work perfectly—in other words around 90 percent, which is all anyone claims—and, given that nothing can be done then about the emissions from the diesel vehicles themselves, this would absolutely prevent New Zealand from ever achieving carbon neutrality?
No, I do not think I would go quite that far, but I certainly do not want to be seen as endorsing the suggestion that we should rush into coal-to-liquids conversions at this stage.
Jeanette Fitzsimons Link to this
What action will the Minister take under the New Zealand Energy Strategy, or what action will he recommend his colleagues the shareholding Ministers in Solid Energy take, to ensure that a State-owned enterprise cannot sabotage his Government’s goals to address climate change?
Solid Energy is at only a pretty preliminary stage of this, and it is well aware that in order for a project of this magnitude to proceed, it would have to cross environmental hurdles and would also require funding approval from shareholding Ministers.