New Zealand
Contracting Party: GNS Science, New Zealand
Executive Committee Member: Chris Bromley, GNS Science, New Zealand
Alternate Member: Vacant
New Zealand’s geothermal development relies on an assessed geothermal-power resource potential, which is 4 GWe (or 30 TWh/yr) from conventional convecting systems. These systems are hosted at depths of up to 4 km, mostly within the Taupo Volcanic Zone. The deeper, hotter, and unexplored roots (4 – 6km) of this zone are anticipated to have gigawatts of additional potential.
The operational geothermal capacity as of 2021 was 1039 MW, with annual generation of ~7800 GWh. In 2021 the annual direct use amounted to some 7.5 PJ.
