Impact of Covid-19 highlighted in Energy in New Zealand 2021
The impact on the energy sector of restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19 in New Zealand are evident in the latest annual energy report from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
Energy in New Zealand 2021 is MBIE’s annual round-up of the energy sector, highlighting key trends in energy supply, transformation, demand and price for the 2020 calendar year.
Daniel Griffiths, MBIE Manager of Markets, Evidence and Insights says the big story of 2020 was Covid-19 and the energy sector was not immune to its effects. Energy consumption fell more than 7 per cent to its lowest level in seven years with industrial and transport sectors the hardest hit.
"With border access severely restricted, the amount of energy used for international transport slumped by 56 per cent. As a comparison, in the year following the 1979 Oil Crisis energy used for international transport only fell by 19 per cent."
"Electricity demand fell by 1.5 per cent with the share of electricity generated from renewable sources falling to 81.1 per cent as lower than normal hydro inflows led to 5.2 per cent decline in hydro generation."