Community Engagement Programme

Energy into the Future was a series of four interactive regional energy forums held in Christchurch and Timaru in September/October 2005, forums which brought major energy users and solution providers together to identify issues for Canterbury and to debate a way forward.

Consultation undertaken during those forums demonstrated a growing appetite for long-term, affordable and sustainable energy solutions that meet community expectations for a reliable energy supply. Key areas of concern identified covered:

• policy / planning that recognise complexity and inter-connections of the energy system;
• making better use of energy;
• renewable energy demonstration and facilitation of local energy solutions; and
• improved sector choices through education and promotion.

Since the forums, Environment Canterbury has progressed energy work on a number of fronts including the Clean Heat Programme,  the biodiesel bus trial  and development of a Regional Energy Strategy. Additionally, ECan has been part of the Canterbury Regional Energy Forum (CREF), a forum to promote discussion, collaboration and planning by local government, energy companies and other interested parties.

The Forum’s key initiative, the Canterbury Regional Energy Strategy Project (CRESP), has identified a broad range of energy issues of particular importance in Canterbury. These issues include: constraints on electricity transmission into the region, better distributed and local generation opportunities, competition for water, and the limited reticulation of gas. Information about the CRESP is available as an Executive Summary or the Stage 1 report.

A forum staged in September 2007 updated progress on regional energy initiatives and is intended to be a springboard for further analysis and action around specific regional, local and industry-led considerations in the static and mobile energy systems. Summary forum notes are available here. ( 97kb)