Malcolm Johns: Genesis Energy CEO on the new solar farm in Canterbury

More than 90-thousand solar panels are now generating power for near 13-thousand homes in Canterbury. 

New Zealand's largest solar farm has opened at Lauriston on the Canterbury Plains. 

The 93 hectare plant is a joint venture between Genesis Energy and FRV Australia. 

Genesis Energy Chief Executive Malcolm Johns told Mike Hosking New Zealand will still need a coal reserve in the future. 

He says there will be periods of time where the wind isn't blowing or the rain hasn't come, and we will need to lean on thermal generation. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Very interesting insight into how we produce power in this country.
Yesterday Genesis opened the country's biggest solar farm, but they're
also in the business of coal, bringing in seven hundred
and seventy kilotons of the stuff to top up the
four hundred and sixty five kilotons already here. The Genesis
Energy boss, Malcolm John's is with us. Malcolm, very good
morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
I'm like, how are you?

Speaker 1 (00:18):
No, I'm very well. Indeed, I was watching yesterday is
a nice day in Canterbury, but rainy. But nevertheless, I'm
a fan of the solar But I looked at that yesterday.
Are you getting close to an I saw there?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
It's pretty big, it is, but the visual impact has
been managed. It's obviously Canterbridge flat, which helps, but you
can't actually see the solar farm from the road and
it has no visual impact on the on the landscape
at all.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Okay, can the farm still operate.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
As Certney can?

Speaker 1 (00:48):
So? A lot of people argue with me on that.
My understanding is the sheep grays and life carries on.
Is that true?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
That's correct? And so effectively the farmer receives income from
the solar farm and from grazing sheep under the solar farm.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
What's your cost going forward in terms of replacing panels
and all of that.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
The panels will last for between twenty and twenty five years.
They're cleaned regularly and so their hail proof and et cetera,
et cetera, so it'll be relatively minimal.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
How many more of those type of operations does this
country need solar wise to get renewable?

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Our soul is part of our overall mix. It's not
a replacement for everything. But the advantage it gives you,
particularly in mid Canterbury. Mid Canterbury has a demand for
electricity which peaks in the summertime. The rest of the
New Zealand the demand peaks in the winter time, so
soul is perfect for that part of New Zealand. But

(01:48):
the advantage it gives you more broadly is it allows
you to hold water back in the lakes and so
your lakes become more like giant batteries than having to
generate electricity every day the year. And to the the
Evan solar gives.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
You Okay, let me come back to that just a
couple of moments. But as regards the rest of it,
so the reason I ask is you're bringing in coal,
and we've got a shedload of coal because we need
it because the renewable dream is not quite here. How
long before you're not bringing in the sort of coal
you need to bring in.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Oh, there's two things. With coal. New Zealand will reach
about ninety five percent renewable generation and sold that a
wind will play a big part of that. But there
will be periods of time when the wind's not blowing
and the rain hasn't come, like last winter and like
the start of this year, et cetera. So we will
need back up from flexible thermal generation for many decades
to come. The largest place we store electricity in New

(02:39):
Zealand is actually our forests. We store about three times
as much energy in our forest as we do in
our lakes and in the coal stockpilot Huntley. And so
we're progressively moving to displace coal with biomass over the
next five years or so. But even in a really
dry year, even with that biomass, New Zealand is likely
to need some coal reserve back up for some decades

(03:02):
to come.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Does biomass work in terms of heat real heat as
opposed to all heat.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yes, it does, so biomass actually burns hotter than cold
because there has a lower moisture content.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
As regards you mentioned transfer Transpoer on this ongoing discussion
they're having with access to reserves, I can't quite work
out where their heads at. If we've got these emergency
reserves and they don't yet you have them, what's the
point of having them?

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Well, my understanding from what Transpower is published is the
emergency reserves are there as a last last resort.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
And if you use them, what's the trigger?

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Though?

Speaker 1 (03:38):
I mean the last last winter is last last I
mean we've had a couple of winters. Now looks like
we're going into another one where things are too tight.
We look a bit third world. So at what point
do we actually trigger it?

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah, so if you look at a major plant failure
or a major gas well failure, those emergency reserves are
there to cover that. If you use them and then
you have a major plan failure, a major guess well failure,
or you have geopolitical disruption, you can't port Cole into
New Zealand, you have nothing left. And so the reason

(04:08):
those reserves are there as a last last resort, and
so you really need to talk to transpower in terms
of the thinking behind the way that's structured. But that's
why those reserves are there.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
Good stuff, malcome us to talk to. You appreciate it
very much. Welcome John's Genesis Energy.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
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