Articles

Energy is fundamental to economic growth and living standards. Here we look at how well New Zealand’s energy sector has been able to balance security, equity and sustainability, and the challenges it will face balancing them in the future.

At Infrastructure New Zealand’s Building Nations conference in early August, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop reportedly denied that the government had pulled back from infrastructure and building, deepening the construction downturn.

Aggregates are important. But how important is clouded by a lack of quality data being collected. Based on current production figures and survey response rates, the actual amount of aggregates produced over the last 12 years might be 49% higher than reported.

Over the weekend we have updated the Infometrics Infrastructure Pipeline Profile (IPP) with the latest data for several infrastructure types. The Profile details expected infrastructure investment out to 2031.

Recent headlines about the state of New Zealand’s infrastructure have mostly been disillusioning. Whether it’s our inability to afford new interisland ferries, the apparent poor condition of our state highways, or calls for Lower Hutt residents to “stop pooing” ahead of the Jucy Fest music festival, it’s difficult to escape the impression that New Zealand is struggling to maintain its infrastructure somewhere even close to first-world standards.

Electricity distributors have published new forecasts of expenditure on capital and network maintenance. These forecasts have resulted in a 33% increase to overall electricity distribution investment over the forecast period compared to prior expectations, worth nearly $4b over the next eight years.

Infometrics has recently conducted further analysis into planned spending on new electricity generation assets as part of our recent update to the Infometrics Infrastructure Pipeline Profile (IPP).

Subscribers to our Building Forecasts will have noted substantial upward revisions by Stats NZ to its estimates of “other construction” activity (ie, excluding residential and non-residential construction – so mostly infrastructure) over the last 2-3 years. This article examines why Stats NZ’s “other construction” estimates can be subject to so much revision, and takes an in-depth look at what we know about this segment of the economy.

New analysis from Infometrics points to a considerable lift in infrastructure investment over the next decade, as maintenance and upgrades of local networks ratchet up. Our analysis extends our infrastructure horizon until 2031 and examines where investment will be located, and of what infrastructure type.

The number of reported solar farm projects announced across New Zealand had a meteoric rise in the first half of 2022, but how many will see the light of day? Consecutive plans for New Zealand’s largest solar farm have been announced since May 2021, with the follow-through yet to come.