Genesis, Spark engage in 10-year renewable energy partnership

Genesis Energy (Genesis) and Spark New Zealand (Spark) announced a new partnership that will support the development of new renewable energy capacity in Aotearoa and the delivery of Spark’s Toitū Sustainability commitments.

Under a 10-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), all electricity generated by Genesis’ first solar farm in Lauriston Canterbury will be purchased by Spark – making a significant contribution towards Spark’s Science Based Target of a 56% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 (from a FY20 baseline).

The 63MW Lauriston solar farm will soon begin construction and is due to start generating by the end of the 2024 calendar year. The renewable energy provided to Spark from the solar farm will account for approximately 60% of Spark’s annual electricity requirements, with the remaining 40% continuing to be sourced by Genesis from the grid as occurs today. The renewable energy will be provided alongside Renewable Energy Certificates, enabling transparent tracking and reporting of the energy supplied to Spark.

As part of the partnership Spark and Genesis also intend to explore additional renewable energy opportunities, to enable Spark to transition to 100% renewable energy procurement in the future, and to support Genesis’ target to have 95% renewable generation by 2035.

Spark CEO Jolie Hodson said “We are thrilled to enter this partnership with Genesis and take this important step forward in delivering our sustainability ambitions. Electricity accounts for 80% of Spark’s scope 1 and 2 emissions, and with our investment in data centres and 5G infrastructure accelerating we expect our electricity use to increase, offsetting savings from our network simplification and energy efficiency initiatives. As a result, we have been exploring how we can decouple our growth from emissions growth, and in Genesis we found a partner who was ready and willing to help us achieve this.

“It is important to us that we deliver on our science-based target by supporting the generation of new renewable energy. In doing so I believe we are demonstrating how NZ Inc can work together to support Aotearoa’s climate goals – with Spark's procurement supporting Genesis’s renewable energy investments, and those investments in turn enabling Spark to meet its emissions reduction targets.”

Genesis’ Chief Executive Malcolm Johns says the PPA supports Genesis’ plan to invest more than $1 billion in new renewable energy to help drive Aotearoa towards net zero 2050.

“The kind of long-term commitment shown by Spark will enable new renewable generation to come online faster, by providing projects with commercial backing and increasing confidence to invest in further developments,” says Johns.

“Spark is a great partner for our renewable energy as we move the country towards a collective target of 60% electrification, with at least 95% renewable electricity, available 100% of the time.

“We aim for the Lauriston PPA to be just the start of adding more renewable electricity to Spark’s energy supply mix in the future,” says Johns.

The commencement date for the agreement is 1 January 2025.