Before the 2023 General Election, the previous Government announced the development of a Gas Transition Plan as part of its project to define an Energy Strategy for New Zealand.  The Plan was intended to describe a managed transition from current gas use, including where and when renewable gases may be required to offset existing gas supplies and their associated emissions.   

Last year in August 2023, MBIE released a Gas Transition Plan Issues Paper, which sought feedback on a range of topics to inform the Plan’s development.   

Now, nearly a year after the consultation, MBIE has released its summary of submissions and links to all 78 submissions. You can find these documents here.  Submissions include 10 from GasNZ members: Clarus, Contact, Ecogas, Genesis, OMV, Powerco, Todd, Vector, Master Plumbers, and National Energy Research Institute. 

GasNZ’s submission 

GasNZ’s substantial submission (see here) had a key recommendation that the Government should work with GasNZ, to bring the gas sector together, to develop appropriate policy and regulatory settings to enable a renewable gas market. We described: 

• the importance of gas in our energy system 

• the potential roles of biogas and hydrogen in decarbonising energy 

• the potential of renewable LPG (now called renewable liquid gas) as a drop-in energy solution, and 

• the policies and support the Government should put in place to enable renewable gas 

After election, the new Government made clear that it would not progress a Gas Transition Plan.  In the absence of a plan, GasNZ has decided to develop a Gas Roadmap for the industry. We have been awaiting all the other submissions, as their insights and analysis will be highly relevant to the Gas Roadmap work.   

Key themes of the submissions

The MBIE summary document does not provide any analysis of submissions received, or any indication of what the new Government thinks of the arguments made. Key themes of the submissions include: 

• The Government needs to provide clear direction and stability for investors. 

• We need to avoid an unmanaged winddown of gas pipeline networks. 

• We need more affordable and reliable renewable electricity before we can phase out gas. 

• Renewable gases and CCUS can help reduce emissions, but they are not a complete solution. 

• We need gas storage to maintain flexibility. 

• There is more work to do, and it should be a collaborative effort. 

It is good to that this solid set of themes has emerged from the submissions, and that GasNZ’s views are reflected in MBIE summary materials. 

GasNZ will now review the submissions in more detail, and factor their insights and analysis into our Gas Roadmap workstream.