Geothermal direct use to provide up to 400 jobs at Bay of Plenty, NZ
White Island, Bay of Plenty, NZ (source: Flickr, creative commons, Krzysztof Belczy?ski, White Island)
Parker O'Halloran
31 Aug 2017
Geothermal direct use and related industries estimated to provide 400 jobs in Bay of Plenty, NZ.
As reported in the Rotura Daily Post, and here on ThinkGeoEnergy earlier this week, The New Zealand government announced $150,000 in funding for a geothermal project, to match a further $150,000 from Bay of Connections and industry partners. The Geothermal Business Development Lead role can now become a reality.
The aim is to create 400 new jobs in the area connected to geothermal direct use projects by 2025, and to streamline investment in the industry by removing obstacles to business.
Bay of Connections chairman Doug Leeder said the combined funding was a significant boost to the work being done on a regional level to grow the Bay of Plenty economy, with geothermal opportunities recognized as one of the nine action streams in the Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Economic Action Plan. Mr Leeder further added that demand for direct use geothermal heat has been limited, however, the significant potential opportunities provided by geothermal require an increased focus on stimulating demand from industry and firms that use heat as a key component of their operations.
Direct use geothermal is already used in the area in industries such as timber drying, aquaculture or tourism, horticulture and milk drying. Mr Leeder expects the implementation of geothermal would help drive millions of dollars of investment, through projects which will, in turn, create a significant number of new jobs.
“The target is to have 300 direct and 100 indirect new jobs attributed to direct use geothermal projects by 2025,” Leeder added.
Source: Rotorua Daily Post
