The New Zealand Wind Energy Association (NZWEA) is disappointed in hearing the news that its member, BlueFloat Energy, has decided to exit its offshore wind energy interests here in Aotearoa New Zealand.
NZWEA CEO Kevin Hart said “not only is it disappointing to see a significant foreign direct investor leave the NZ market, but it also sends a signal that as a country, we need to do more to attract and retain international investors. If we really want to decarbonise our economy and substantially grow renewable energy by 2050, we need these types of international investors to help us reach these crucial targets.
While we welcome the Governments urgency and applaud the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s significant efforts to develop legislation to enable offshore renewable energy, the proposed legislation must also be consistent with how other markets like Australia are adopting offshore wind energy. The legislation therefore needs to be attractive to international investors by providing the regulatory and commercial certainty for them to invest. In a globally competitive market where offshore wind (and onshore wind) demand is growing at considerable rates, international supply chains are conversely constrained. Due to New Zealand’s small size, and distance from the rest of the world, our only point of difference is our ‘ease of doing business’.
NZWEA will continue to work alongside the remaining offshore wind energy developer members in Aotearoa New Zealand, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Parkwind, Sumitomo Corporation and Oceanex Energy, and we look forward to seeing the offshore renewable energy legislation introduced into law in mid-2025, or sooner.
