GAVIN EVANS: Southland jobs sacrificed to confused energy policy

Wed, 15 Jul 2020

The 2,600 jobs to be sacrificed in Southland next year are a high price to pay for confused energy policy and a multi-decade decline in this country’s economic ambitions. Despite the writing being on the wall for the Tiwai Point smelter since 2013, the plant – one of the world’s lowest-carbon aluminium producers – will close next year with no apparent plan on alternative uses for the 5,000 gigawatt-hours of renewable electricity its closure will release. Only about half that supply can be squeezed onto the national grid any time soon. And...

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