Background

We received 48 written submissions and 3 survey responses. This feedback reflects the views of approximately 18 energy industry stakeholders (7 of which are involved in offshore renewable energy developments), 15 iwi and Māori organisations, 4 environmental advocacy groups and 6 local governments or regional development organisations. In addition to written submissions, MBIE received feedback through a series of meetings with iwi and key stakeholders which is also reflected in this summary. A list of submitters is included in Annex 1.

The discussion document explored the design of a regulatory framework for offshore renewable energy as well as issues relating to the economics of the regime, links with environmental consenting processes and development of transmission infrastructure. This discussion document builds on the December 2022 discussion document, Enabling Investment in Offshore Renewable Energy, which focused on the feasibility stage of the development pipeline.

The discussion document was published as part of a package of consultation documents on New Zealand’s energy transition – the Gas Transition Plan Issues Paper, the Interim Hydrogen Roadmap, and the discussion document on Measures for Transition to an Expanded and Highly Renewable Electricity System. Some of the feedback on these documents was relevant to issues relating to offshore renewable energy development and is therefore included in this summary. Summaries of submissions for the other consultations can be found on the MBIE website.

The feedback summarised in this document has informed MBIE’s policy analysis and advice to the Government on the best approach to regulating offshore renewable energy developments in New Zealand. More information on the development of this regulatory regime and policy decisions taken by the Government can be found on the MBIE website.

Navigating this document

This document provides a high-level summary of the feedback received to the discussion document. For ease, the structure of this document aligns with the chapters of the discussion document. Where appropriate we have drawn on comments made by submitters, but this does not reflect MBIE’s analysis or views of this feedback.

For the purposes of this summary, where appropriate, we refer to the number of submissions that shared a similar view. However, it should be noted that submitters did not always answer every question and, in some cases, focused on providing general comments on the overall regime.

Numerical values of the terminology used in the document are outlined in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Definitions of numerical terminology

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