From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Just sign on the dotted line…

New Zealand partners with BlackRock in aim to reach 100 per cent renewable electricity

By Associated Press
3:23am Aug 9, 2023

New Zealand’s government has announced it will partner with United States investment giant BlackRock in its aim to become one of the first nations in the world to have its electricity grid run entirely from renewable energy.

The government said it was helping BlackRock launch a $NZ2 billion ($1.86 billion) fund to ramp up investments in wind and solar generation, as well as battery storage and green hydrogen. 

Some of the investment is expected to come from government-owned companies.

New Zealand’s electricity grid already runs off about 82 per cent renewable energy after it damned rivers decades ago to produce hydroelectric power. The government said it aims to reach 100 per cent renewable generation by the end of this decade.

The announcement comes two months out from an election, with the government hoping to burnish its green credentials. 

Critics point out the nation’s overall greenhouse gas emissions have barely budged since the government symbolically declared a climate emergency in 2020.

Read more: https://www.9news.com.au/world/nz-climate-change-new-zealand-partners-with-blackrock-in-aim-to-reach-100-per-cent-renewable-electricity/7f9a7cfd-0a77-486c-93f4-ee47b488a78f

The question is, what does BlackRock intend to do, to help New Zealand achieve Net Zero?

New Zealand already gets most of their electricity from hydro. They are naturally blessed with mountainous terrain and good rainfall, so have plenty of access to good hydro sites, if you ignore some of their scarier green energy projects, like the plan to drill pumped hydro pipes deep into the caldera of one of the world’s most active super volcanos.

The remaining targets, home heating and personal transport, any attempt to force people to embrace zero emission alternatives to their existing ICE vehicles and fossil fuel powered heating could result in a lot of hardship being inflicted on people who in many cases don’t have the money to buy new stuff, nor the money to pay off loans from forced transitions to green alternatives.

Lets just say its going to be interesting to track this new partnership, and the inevitable consequences.