Renewable energy potential in New Zealand -- by the numbers : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Mathematics at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
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Date
2013
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Massey University
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Abstract
Renewable energy plays a very important role in New Zealand's energy supply system, with
approximately 39% of energy supply from renewable sources.The idea of the thesis was inspired
by the book Sustainable Energy|Without The Hot Air by David MacKay. The book uses ba-
sic physics and mathematics to estimate the amount of sustainable sources that are physically
available before considering their economic feasibility. The goal of the thesis is to transfer some
of MacKay's ideas to New Zealand, and estimate an upper limit to the energy we can get from
the following renewable resources: hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and waves, then compare
this to New Zealand's energy use, and hence answer the question Can New Zealand live on
Renewables?
In this thesis, hydroelectricity potential was estimated using Hydroelectricity Image Processing
Approach. This method is original to this thesis, and involved using some image processing to
estimate an upper limit of the total hydro available using the Rainfall Map and New Zealand
100 m Digital Elevation Model. Also, some image processing has been done to estimate solar
thermal and solar photovoltaic potential for every region in New Zealand using the Solar Radi-
ation Map. Furthermore, Wind Resource Map and Rayleigh distribution were used to estimate
the wind power density which is an important measure in wind industry for every region in
New Zealand.
The results from this research show that it is possible for New Zealand to supply all of its
energy requirements from renewable sources alone. In fact, the renewable resource available
is around 9 times our current energy use. However, in reality there are many environmental,
economic and social limitations that would need to be considered.
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Keywords
Renewable energy resources, Energy consumption, New Zealand, Mathematical models