Waikato regional economic profile - Waikato Regional Council

The 10 largest energy using industries accounted for 73 per cent of all energyconsumed in 2003-2004. Road transport was the single largest consumer of energy at5,628 terajoules (15 per cent of all energy consumed in the region), almost all of whichwas from fossil fuels. Paper product manufacturing was the second largest consumerof energy at 4,781 terajoules (13 per cent) with over half of this energy (58 per cent)provided from wood/black liquor. The third largest consumer of energy was dairyproduct manufacturing (3,758 terajoules, 10 per cent) – predominantly from fossilfuels. 152Figure 59: Top 10 energy consuming industries by energy type 1534.3.1 ElectricityElectricity 154 demand nationally has increased at approximately 2.5 per cent a yearsince the 1970s. That trend is strongly related to economic growth and population sizeand, based on Statistics New Zealand projections, demand is forecast to continuegrowing at a rate of around 1.5 per cent a year through to 2050, 155 despite the fact thatthere has been no increase in demand for the past four years. Security and reliability ofsupply is of such great importance that the Electricity Industry Act 2010 requires theElectricity Authority to appoint a Security and Reliability Council to provide independentadvice to the Authority on the performance of the electricity system and the systemoperator and reliability of supply issues.The Waikato region plays a major role in ensuring the security of electricity supply forthe country as a whole. Waikato is New Zealand’s premier electricity region, generatingmore electricity than any other single region in the country. The region has almost 40per cent of installed generation capacity. 156 The generation type, capacity and locationof plants in the region are shown in table 5 and figure 60.Table 5: Generation capacity and plant type in the Waikato region (2011)Plant TypeNumber ofplantsRated capacity(megawatts 157 )Thermal 5 1519Hydro 10 1450Geothermal 7 610Wind 1 0.8152Market Economics Ltd (2006b, p. 13).153Market Economics Ltd (2006b, p. 13).154Electricity is energy produced in the form of electrons flowing in a conducting material, such as copper or aluminiumas used in power lines. It is a secondary energy source produced from other forms of energy.155Electricity Authority (2011, p. 3).156Waikato Regional Energy Forum (2009, p. 5).157The megawatt is equal to one million watts. The watt is a derived unit of power, defined as one joule per second.Doc # 2069885 Page 55