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March 2024 summary

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This is the web version of the New Zealand Energy Quarterly March 2024 Summary.

Download the PDF and word versions:

New Zealand Energy Quarterly March 2024 summary [PDF, 312 KB]

New Zealand Energy Quarterly March 2024 summary [DOCX, 1.1 MB]

Natural gas production continues to decline

Natural gas net production for the quarter was 31.89 PJ, a 12% decrease on March 2023 and the lowest quarterly net production since March 1985. A planned outage at Pohokura gas field for maintenance in March added to the steady long-term decrease in gas production. The trend is expected to continue into Quarter 2 with Kapuni gas field going offline for planned maintenance in April.

Reduced natural gas production had a direct impact on consumption with a 33% drop in non-energy use compared with March 2023 quarter, and a 31% decrease in energy use in the chemical sector. Driving this fall was Methanex, one of the largest users of gas in New Zealand reducing its production of methanol in response to less available gas supply. 

Although the gas-fired Huntly Unit 5 returned to service earlier than scheduled following an unscheduled outage, the lower gas supply led to the need for coal-fired electricity generation to meet demand. Following a dryer summer and below normal rainfall, generation from gas and coal was needed to meet demand for electricity. Compared to the same quarter last year there was a 99% increase in coal for electricity generation.

As the share of renewable electricity generation decreased, greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation increased to 861 kt CO2-e, a 21.5% increase compared with the March 2023 quarter. Other key statistics

  • New solar and wind electricity generation helped offset a 3.2% drop in hydro generation to keep the renewable share high at 85.7% for the past quarter.
  • New capacity from Rangitaiki Solar Farm helped boost solar generation to 145 GWh, a 51.2% increase from March 2023.
  • Full commissioning of Turitea Wind Farm helped to increase wind generation with 920 GWh produced, a 43.4% increase.

Read more information on energy use in New Zealand

Summary charts

Electricity generation from renewable sources
A time series chart showing electricity generation from renewable sources, from 2015 until the first quarter of 2024. Electricity generation from renewable sources has trended upwards from about 80% in 2015 to about 87% in 2024, but with significant fluctuations, especially around 2021-2022 with fluctuations of more than 10%.
CO2-e emissions from electricity generation
A time series chart showing carbon emissions from electricity generation, from 2015 until the first quarter of 2024. Carbon emissions have trended downwards from about 1450 kt in 2015 to about 800 kt in 2024. There have been considerable fluctuations, the most notable being a dramatic drop of nearly 1500 kt in 2021 after a gradual increase to about 2000kt in the year beforehand.
Electricity generation from solar and wind sources
A time series chart showing electricity generation from solar and wind sources, from 2015 until the first quarter of 2024. Wind is fluctuating but trending upwards over time, with a dramatic increase in 2023-2024 to reach nearly 1000 GWh. Solar is much lower and flatter, but increasing slowly over time to reach about 145 GWh in 2024.
Electricity generation from coal and gas
A time series chart showing electricity generation from coal and gas, from 2015 until the first quarter of 2024. Coal generation has largely fluctuated around 500 GWh, with the notable exception of 2021, where it rose to about 1300 GWh. Gas has trended downwards from about 1700 GWh in 2015 to about 1150 GWh in 2024, but with significant fluctuations of up to 1100 GWh.
Natural gas net production
A time series chart showing natural gas production from 2015 until the first quarter of 2024. The graph shows natural gas has trending downwards from around 55 PJ in 2015 to around 30 PJ in the first quarter of 2024. 
Natural gas demand
A time series area chart showing natural gas demand from 2015 until the first quarter of 2024. The graph shows natural gas demand for: energy use (other), energy use (industrial), non-energy use, and electricity generation all trending downwards gradually over time.
Last updated: 13 June 2024

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