Preliminary data released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment of New Zealand indicate that renewables contributed to 80% of power generation in New Zealand in December 2014, the highest annual share of electricity generation from renewables since 1996. Renewable power generation declined by 3.5% during the year, due to an 8.2% decline in hydropower production, while geothermal generation increased by 5.2% (higher than gas-fired generation for the first time since 1975) and wind generation continued to rise (+26%). The erosion in renewable power generation was offset by a rising thermal generation (+33%), mainly from gas (+11%) but also from coal (+180%). This contributed to a 57% increase in annual greenhouse gas emissions. Electricity consumption in 2014 was up by 3.6% from 2013. This increase was driven by a large increase in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector (up by 25% over the same period) due to irrigation demand, and an increase in residential electricity demand by 2.9%.
Where gas is concerned, total consumption grew by 29% in 2014, due to a strong demand from the industrial sector (+53% for chemicals and +38% for food processing) and from the residential demand to a lesser extent (+10%). Gas production increased by 10% during the year, while coal production fell by 14% (-17% for coal exports).