One of the great mysteries of the modern age, alongside the Bermuda Triangle and the fate of Shergar, is why so many energy conferences are squeezed into the same ten weeks each year. We’ve now ticked off Sustainable Energy, Wind Energy, Gas Industry, Electrical Engineers and Oceania Renewables, and All Energy Australia is next. As Entec’s go-to conference attendee, I get the privilege of flying the company flag and helping shape our future plans, and the challenge of working my way through the buffets without shortening my life expectancy too much.
The themes are familiar. Every part of the sector is wrestling with the energy trilemma: balancing the reliability, affordability and sustainability of our energy system. Each part of the sector has its own view on how to achieve that balance. With an election looming, the politicians have joined in, and the proposed LNG import terminal may be the most divisive issue since Buck Shelford was dropped from the All Blacks in 1990.
Meanwhile, plenty is happening to speed up the pace of change:
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Record demand: NZ hit an all-time peak of 7,415MW on 6 August 2026, and the system held together… just.
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Declining gas: Domestic production and 2P reserves are falling fast, and prices are rising.
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Closures: Supply constraints have contributed to major plant closures, and deindustrialisation poses serious economic risks for New Zealand.
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Hormuz: Intermittent closures of the Strait are hitting liquid fuels and supply chains, including fertiliser.
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Renewables boom: Twice as many MW have been installed in the last three years as in the previous eight, with a long pipeline still to come.
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Batteries: BESS is now arriving, adding short-term storage to complement our long-term hydro storage.
There’s no single right answer on where to invest next. More solar and wind? Yes. More gas for peaking and firming? Yes. More distributed generation? Yes. Faced with the menu, the sensible answer is probably “D: all of the above”.
Complicating matters is the media’s habit of conflating “electricity” with “energy”. New Zealand’s electricity generation has been more than 95% renewable for extended periods recently. Electricity accounts for only about a quarter of the country’s total energy use. Transport, feedstock use, space heating and process heat make up the rest, and much of it can’t easily switch to electricity.
Where Entec fits
We’re proud of our work across the sector. Most of our clients are building or servicing electrification and decarbonisation assets. My recent site visits took me to the geothermal sites at Te Mihi and Wairakei, Auckland’s ferry electrification project, and the new BESS at Glenbrook, which won “Energy Project of the Year” at this year’s Energy Excellence Awards. We’re also working on solar farms, helping distribution businesses build new infrastructure, and helping industrial users convert to new energy sources.
We also support our traditional gas customers in parts of the country where renewable electricity cannot meet demand.
It’s an exciting time to be in this sector, and we enjoy working with our customers. Contact us if we can help.
Bob Weston, Director of Future Business
Entec New Zealand and Entec Australia