Ryan Bridge: Coal keeps the lights on

We need to be a bit practical about this business of importing coal. 

Yesterday Genesis, Mercury, Meridian, and Contact announced they're going to stockpile up to 600,000 tonnes of coal to keep the lights on at Huntly power station. 

The deal needs Commerce Commission's approval so it doesn't look like they're colluding on price, but the idea struck a deal, which still needs Commerce Commission approval, to keep the lights on at Huntly. 

The coal gives them a back up for times when we're low on electricity, when the lake levels are low, and the wind isn't blowing. 

Huntly is the largest electricity generation site in the country. It needs fuel to run on. 

Eventually, they'd like it to be all biomass and green, friendly fuels. But in the meantime, they need something reliable to keep things chugging along so as we avoid another energy crunch like last year when spot prices went berserk because we realised how little gas have in this country. 

And queue the predicable outcries of disbelief and feigned shock from some quarters in reaction. 

Including those climate protesters, who I can only assume are still disrupting operations at the Stockton mine in the South Island.

Last I saw, there was some woman up there in the bucket, health and safety be damned, zooming into a call with a journalist. Surrounded by a plethora of plastic in things like cabling, cell phones, battery packs, tools, even a helmet, she explained that coal was evil and would eventually ruin kill the planet. 

Never mind the fact her presence in the bucket meant workers were now having to truck their coal from one site to another using diesel, rather than the aerial rope pulley system whose bucket she and her plastic fantastic friends were occupying. 

No shame either, apparently, about a helicopter flying in, on AV gas, to check on the protesters after a bit of rain.

The reality is this. Nobody's saying coal is amazing and is the only solution to our problem and let's burn it till we all burn. 

They're just saying, we need this reliable fuel to tide us over till we don't need it anymore. 

If the choice is to either burn coal or have a cold shower, I know what I'd be doing. 

And let's not forget that even if we did stop digging up coal and using it to heat our homes occasionally, some other country would be just that anyway. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We need to be a bit practical about this business
of important coal. I reckon yesterday Genesis, Mercury, Meridian Contacts.
They came together and announced they're going to stockpile up
to six hundred thousand tons of coal to keep the
lights on it Huntley. The coal gives us a backup
for when times. You know, when electricity is low, when
the late levels are low, when the wind isn't blowing.

(00:21):
Huntley is the largest electricity generation site in the country,
and it needs fuel to run on. Eventually, they would
like it to be all biomass and green and friendly, etc.
But in the meantime they need something reliable to keep
things chugging along so as we avoid another energy crunch
like we had last year when spot prices went berserk

(00:43):
because we realized how little gas we have in this
country and cue the predictable outcries of disbelief and feigned
shock from some quarters in reaction to this, including those
climate protesters. Have you seen them, who I can only
assume are still disrupting operations at the Stockton mine in
the South Island, hanging from an aerial bucket with their
banners unfurled. Last time I saw them there was a

(01:05):
woman up there in the bucket, you know, health and
safety be damned, zooming into a call with a journalist.
And she did this completely unironically, surrounded by a plethora
of plastic in things like the cables she was using,
her cell phone, the battery packs, the tools, even her
helmet plastic, plastic, plastic. She explained that coal was evil,

(01:28):
of course, and would eventually ruin and kill the planet,
never mind the fact that her presence in the bucket
meant that workers were now having to truck their coal
from one site to another using yes, you guessed it,
diesel engines rather than the aerial rope pulley system whose
bucket she and her plastic fantastic friends were now occupying.

(01:51):
No shame either, apparently about a helicopter flying in. This
was the local news reporting a helicopter flying in Yes
where avga Yes to check on the protest is after
a bit of rain. Paul thinks. The reality is this.
Nobody's saying coal is amazing and it's the only solution

(02:11):
to our problem, and let's burn it till we all burn.
I've not heard anyone say that. They're just saying we
need this reliable fuel to tide us over till we
don't need it anymore. If the choice is to either
burn coal or have a cold shower, I know what
I'm doing, and let's not forget that even if we

(02:33):
did stop digging up coal and using it to heat
our homes occasionally, some other country far away would be
doing exactly that anyway. For more from Earlily Edition with
Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talk Set B from
five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.