In his Electricity, Energy and the Environment report released yesterday, he said renewable energy should replace fossil fuel-fired stations within 35 years or sooner.
Gas-fired and coal-fired power stations presently produce about 30% of the country’s electricity requirements, but renewables, particularly wind and geothermal, had the potential to produce as much, if not more, than fossil fuels, according to Williams.
Other renewables, such as marine power, using tides and currents, also had great potential.
But Genesis Energy chief executive Murray Jackson said all indications were that New Zealand would continue to need gas and coal-fired power stations for at least 20 years unless it adopted nuclear power.
However, Williams argued that New Zealand’s big electricity companies dominated energy debates and pusehd large power plants.
He also criticised current government energy policy as being short-term and driven by security of supply concerns, not environmental matters.
Williams said there was a lot of potential for small-scale renewable power projects and that New Zealand had not tapped into energy-efficiency technology.
