Association president Owen Poole told the LPG industry’s annual conference in Taupo yesterday that NZ LPG provided as much energy as the planned Genesis Energy 385MW ep3 power station at Huntly.

“LPG is a strategic energy asset for New Zealand, but is hugely under-valued by government, despite its massive potential to contribute to a sustainable energy future for the country.”

Poole was commenting on the “Sustainable Energy” document released yesterday that suggested government consider supporting LPG as a cleaner, low-carbon transport fuel that is good for high-mileage vehicles and reduces environmental impacts.

“The LPG industry has been telling government that for years, and we have proposed many times how we could work together to encourage greater use of automotive LPG.

“While it’s nice, finally, to be acknowledged, LPG’s contribution to New Zealand’s energy future now goes far beyond just transport and is rapidly becoming a sizeable, reliable and resilient energy supplier to the country’s residential, commercial and industrial sectors.”

The LPG market has grown 50% in the last five years and that growth looked set to continue. LPG could become increasingly important in the long term to the nation’s energy security, energy efficiency, climate change and local air quality strategies.

Poole said it was great to see the government widening energy discussions away from a seemingly single focus on developing electricity and renewables.

“Putting all your eggs in the electricity and renewables basket does not make good business sense. It just tends to marginalise other potential solutions, like LPG, that can contribute to the long term strategic mix.”