Peter Spencer: Parkwind Country Manager looking at plans for offshore wind farms in South Taranaki

Belgian company Parkwind is exploring plans to build a large scale offshore wind farm in South Taranaki. 

Parkwind Country Manager Peter Spencer says that Europe and Australia have already put these systems into place.

'The Europeans are the masters of it. The Australians are doing very well.'

He said these offshore wind farms could be up and running in the next decade.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The next step in our renewable power journey could be offshore.
When Belgian company park Wind is exploring a large scale
farm in South Taranaki could be back by about five
billion in private investment. There's a potential of one hundred
million in annual operations to the region. Peter Spencer is
the country manager of park when New Zealand end as well.
There's Peter morning to you. How reel is this?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's real. It's being built a bit time all around
the world, including over the ditch with our cousins in Australia,
so they're going big on it, and certainly in Europe
it's been they've been building off for a wind since
about twenty twenty. So it's certainly out there and it's
an opportunity for New Zealand if we choose to sieve it.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Do We have the regulatory framework set to go.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
It's in the pipeline, so the government is working on
it at the moment. There's a few sifferent points that
we are trying to work through with them, but there's
certainly that they're team to get it done and it
needs to be done right.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
How do you fit in to solar onshore wind, geothermal, rain,
the whole thing. Are you a major player or a
bit player?

Speaker 2 (01:11):
I think yeah. I think what offshre wind offers that
alternatives don't is just the scale of them. So like,
for instance, an offshore wind farm somewhere like South Caronette
that could have the same power output as something like MANATORI.
So it would be if we built that, it would
be one of the biggest power stations in the companies

(01:33):
in the country so far, far larger scale than you
would get from onshore projects which tend to be quite small.
And you know, I think no one's pitching now offshore
wind to be built tomorrow, but you know, kind of
mid twenty thirties, when a lot of the best on
sure alternatives have already been developed, then it's something it's

(01:55):
very valuable for you doing to have this large scale
project that can be built in the mid twenty thirties
and make sure that we have a secure and resilient energy.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yeah, if you went go tomorrow, how long would it
take to build?

Speaker 2 (02:14):
So we would be looking at about seven years of feasibility,
which is about going out there doing your environmental studies
during your geotechnical studies. Once you've done that, and if
you have a project that stacks up commercially, you would
then spend about three years to build it and then
it would become operational. So operation will probably from around

(02:35):
mid twenty thirty five.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Okay, who's done it well? Who do we look at.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
The Europeans of the masters of it? The Australians are
doing very well, like especially in Victoria, they're really kind
of following the best practice from Europe and so luckily
usually just kind of following Australia. So I think we're
going about it the right way. There is just a few,
you know, a few things we need to sort out.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
Good stuff, we'll go. Well, nice to talk to you.
Appreciate the INSIGHTE Peter Spencer who and apologies for the
phone line. He was in Faks sitting on a propeller
three hundred kilometers offshore or I might have made that
up one or the other country manager for Park went.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
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