esr.org.nz

ESR Auckland Branch
Date and Time: 7.30 pm, Thursday 16 July 2009
Where: Room 3.407, School of Engineering, University of Auckland, 20 Symonds St, Auckland.

Speaker: Dr John Huckerby, (Executive Officer, Aotearoa Wave and Tidal Energy Association), is the founder and Executive Officer of the Aotearoa Wave and Tidal Energy Association (AWATEA), a marine energy industry association formed in April 2006. He is the current Chairman of the International Energy Agency’s Ocean Energy Systems Executive (IEA:OES) and is also NZ’s representative to the International Electrotechnical Commission’s TC114, a technical committee set up to establish technical, environmental and performance standards for marine energy. More recently, he was appointed as a Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Special Report on Renewable Energy Resources and Climate Change Mitigation, which is due to be published in 2010.

John is also the director of Power Projects Limited, an energy industry consultancy advising on investments in New Zealand’s energy industry. Power Projects is currently involved in the Wave Energy Technology-New Zealand (WET-NZ) R & D programme, which is developing a point-absorber wave energy converter.

John has a Ph.D. from Imperial College in London and an MBA from Henley Management College. He is a Chartered Engineer and a member of the Energy Institute, the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Institute of Directors in New Zealand.

Abstract: New Zealand is 94% water, yet the maritime industries contribute less than 1% of our GDP. Recent research has shown that New Zealand has substantial resources of both wave and tidal energy, which could be harnessed to meet our energy supply, address our energy security, create jobs in a new industry and develop an export industry.

The talk will address the size and distribution of our marine energy resources, national and international developments in marine energy technologies. The Government’s support for marine energy and industry’s enthusiasm to deploy are affected by issues such as resource consenting, environmental considerations and economic viability. The status of marine energy projects in New Zealand will be described along with initiatives in the wider international industry.

Web: www.esr.org.nz
Contact: Thomas Neitzert Ph 09-921 9258 thomas.neitzert@aut.ac.nz
(for more information. No booking required)