This article was first published on RNZ.
Resources and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is looking to expand New Zealand’s geothermal energy resources and will be trying to convince iwi of the benefits of tapping geothermal energy under Māori-owned land at a hui in Rotorua Friday.
Jones is meeting with around 40 iwi groups from around the Taupō Volcanic Zone, which stretches from Mount Ruapehu to the Bay of Plenty.
At present geothermal wells are drilled to a maximum depth of about 3.5 kilometers but the government is considering supercritical geothermal energy, sourced from hot rocks heated by magma up to 6 kilometers deep, which can potentially generate significantly more energy.
GNS Science, which is leading the initiative with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), will present to Friday’s hui on the research done to identify possible sites for three deep exploratory wells in the Taupō Volcanic Zone.
Shane Jones said $60 million has been set aside to meet the costs of deep geothermal drilling, 5 to 6 kilometers beneath the crust of the Earth.
Jones said the hui is so Māori land owners in the area get an early notice of what the Crown is proposing to do.
“There is a great deal of geothermal potential under the various blocks of Māori owned land and it may represent an opportunity to reach a new level of collaboration between the energy industry, the Māori land owners and the Crown,” he said.
Jones said the government needs to contemplate a future where recreation, tourism, manufacturing and greater electricity generation can be derived from geothermal energy.
“I think that we’ve undersold the potential of geothermal energy, I think that many regions will benefit if we can open up the locations of geothermal energy to enhance tourism and quite frankly offer manufacturers an opportunity to escape from the fangs of the gentailers that blight our whole energy system.
“If we can crack the engineering associated with accessing the super critical 6 kilometer deep geothermal energy, then we will massively boost our energy security and substantially improve affordability.”
Jones said if the Māori land owning community see potential in geothermal energy he wants to find some common ground.
He said he is expecting to launch a geothermal strategy later this year.
Rangitihi Pene is a trustee of the Tūhourangi Tribal Authority whose rohe (region) includes geothermal features such as Lake Rotomahana and the Waimangu Valley.
Tūhourangi are happy to explore the potential of deeper geothermal wells as long as it doesn’t impact the geothermal features on the surface, he said.
“In speaking with volcanologists they pointed out that whenever a geothermal power station was started, they used the examples of Wairakei, Ōhākī, that the geothermal valleys and all those features disappear. So, as a responsible iwi, you know who want to look after our taiao, we wouldn’t want that to happen.
“We’re aligned in terms of looking after our Waimangu Valley, if this doesn’t impact on that then I don’t think we should be hindered as an iwi.”
Pene said there is also a major risk for Māori land owners if they decide not to take part.
“The new geothermal power station down in Taupō, the Tauhara one, that sits on a bit of land, but it brings geothermal power up from neighboring blocks and when I speak to our Tūwharetoa relations they said the only leverage they have are resource consents so they are locked out.
“So we might say we won’t do this geothermal, someone could set up 10 kilometres away on some private land and they could suck our field and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Robbie Watt is the Tumuaki of Tūwharetoa Geothermal based in Kawerau - he said Tūwharetoa are interested in exploring the opportunities supercritical geothermal can bring as well as improving the existing geothermal infrastructure. The wells Tūwharetoa Geothermal currently run are around 2.5ks deep.
“This hui is an opportunity to explore how the Crown and iwi groups like Tūwharetoa could go about that, but certainly [it is] not something we’d be doing on our own.”
Watt said supercritical drilling needs more technical assessment and understanding to make sure it won’t impact existing geothermal operations and he is interested to hear how the Crown might cover that risk off.
“The Crown would be looking to take a risk position on the deep geothermal because I don’t think that any iwi group would be looking to participate in that risk profile given it’s a technology that’s unproven internationally, let alone nationally.”
By Pokere Paewai of RNZ.
