Energy Case Competition Winners 2025
Host: Dr Pauline Herbst (PH)
Guests: Prof. Emilson Silva, Chair in Energy Economics, Director of The Energy Centre, The University of Auckland
Jia Gu, Omar Mourad, Miles Tapsell: Winners of the 2025 Energy Case Competition
Producers: Tim Page and Pauline Herbst
Transcript
Intro: the energy case competition
PAULINE HERBST: Can you imagine if average electricity prices jumped from $300 per megawatt hours to $820 per megawatt hours in less than a month? What would we do without power? Some listeners may recall that this did happen in New Zealand’s 2024 energy crisis. Although brief, there were catastrophic knock-on effects. How did this happen? Why did this happen? And more importantly, what can we do to safeguard the future of energy?
I’m Dr Pauline Herbst from the University of Auckland. Joining me to tackle this nuanced issue are some of the best and brightest minds: the student winners of the 2025 Energy Case competition Jai Gu , Omar Mourad and Miles Tapsell and a special guest, the Chair in Energy Economics and director of the Energy Centre at the University of Auckland, Professor Emilson Silva. Welcome.
Emilson, we’ll start with you. You’ve been involved in the energy case competition for three years now. It is supported by the Energy Education Trust of New Zealand and run by the student organisation the UACC. Can you tell us a little bit more about the Energy Case Competition?
EMILSON SILVA: Well thank you. The energy case competition is one of our main outreach activities throughout the year and it’s one of the most exciting ones. We come up with a challenge in the energy sector; typically a problem that we are currently facing or it is an examination of a particular energy strategy. For example, in the past we looked at what would be a feasible strategy to accomplish the 100% renewable electricity provision by 2030. The energy case competition brings young minds to contemplate a particular problem that even older minds like myself find it hard to actually come up with the solution. It is an opportunity for students to engage in groups and teams in a short period of time to come up with potential solutions. And typically the results are amazing.
PH: Fantastic. I can’t wait to drill into this a little bit more. Now, from what I understand, not only has this year’s challenge been even more challenging with some extra repetition on the challenge than previous years, but also, the students have one week to research, come up with the strategy, present, and then if they get shortlisted, defend this to the judges. Can you tell me a little bit more about that process? Did you get a big response?
ES: We had over 120 students registering for the competition. I would say that over half of the students were registered and actually submitting the cases. Since it is very challenging over a short period of time, it’s not surprising that some of the students that register, they do not find it compelling or they do not have the time to actually dedicate and submit a compelling case. Typically they are not experts. Some of them may already have some some knowledge of the energy sector. But most of the students, they see that for the first time, and then they think about what they should do and what should be accomplished in order to do the best that they can with the challenge.
ES: It’s an event that all the judges, every time that we go through the whole process, are always pleasantly surprised and especially this year, they were in shock with the two top teams that they thought did a fantastic job.
The grand challenge
PH: So to be clear, what these students had to do, to prepare for this competition and to get to the top of over 120 student registrations is to actually prepare, carefully research and write a ten page professional business case report. In addition, they also had to create a 25 slide presentation and be able to defend that with off the cuff, really tricky questions from judges, which we’ll go into a little later. Now, Emilson, I’m sure we’re all at the edge of our seats. What was the challenge? What did they have to do?
ES: The challenge was simply to design a strategy that would make the energy sector secure, sustainable, affordable and efficient by 2050. So that’s the challenge that some experts have been trying to do and try to come up with some solutions for quite some time. And so that that was a main challenge.
PH: That is quite a challenge because you’re crossing security and affordability. So there are economics and politics around that sustainability, which is very fraught. And a lot of these “wicked”, nuanced problems are caused by climate change creating unstable natural events and then [having to include] efficiency as well in an ageing grid. Now I’d like to cross to Miles Tapsell, who is our second placed winner. Congratulations.
The issues
PAULINE: You’ve been trained in these case clubs to outline the issues and then come up with corresponding strategies. So do you want to talk us through some of the issues that you identified.
MILES TAPSELL: Yeah sure. So through the case program we’re trying to begin with an analysis of the situation in particular, pull out key problems and key insights that we can solve. So one of the problems I identified with last year’s energy crisis in particular was our reliance on intermittent sources. And we had low hydro levels between July and August. And we also had a low number of imports of gas as our backlogged supply. With that in mind, I wanted to find a solution that provided 24/7 baseload electricity supply. And that led me down the way of geothermal.
PH: We had a brief talk yesterday in preparation for this, and you were telling me about some of the catastrophic events in terms of industrial electricity users and how a lot of them just completely went under last year. Do you want to talk to us a little bit more about that? Because I think for many people, when they think industrial electricity users, they think, big corporates, big governments, why should I care?
MT: Yeah. Of course. So a bit of context. For the last ten years, industrial users have been our largest electricity user in New Zealand. And it was only between 2022 and 2023 that residential electricity consumption overtook industrial. But I think that’s more a reflection of the industrial users shutting down rather than them scaling down their power usage. So, yeah, on the economic side of things, a lot of these industrial users are the backbone of our regional economies. Tokerau for example, in the Bay of Plenty, that’s where the Kinleith pulp and paper mills are, which our family does work on. In April or Feb of this year they announced the closure of their paper machine six, which is going to result in 230 jobs directly being lost. But the wider economic challenges that that brings us particularly in the forestry operations around the Tokerau region, there’s thousands of jobs that could be gone because of the closure of the paper machine.
PH: From what I understand, that also had a direct impact in some of your extended whānau?
MT: We had a few guys that used to do the maintenance jobs in the shutdowns on the paper machines. So with that closing, not only for us, but a lot of the other family owned companies around the Bay of Plenty region that brings new challenges.
PH: Absolutely. So, Jia, I’d like to cross over to you now. Jia Gu is one of the members of the winning team along with Omar Mourad. All right. Jia. What additional issues did your team identify?
JIA GU: We see the issue coming from both the demand side and the supply side. With the demand side, New Zealand electricity usage and demand is rising faster than ever. Just with EVs on the road, we have four times more in the past four years and we see that heating systems have changed to electric based. Also what Miles said was industry. They are also wanting to become more sustainable, so switching to renewable energy. So the demand is going high but our supply is lagging behind, so we have a high reliance on hydropower. But just like what happened in 2024 when the drought happened, we don’t have enough, and then we have to go back to relying on fossil fuel again, so then we have to diversify our risk. When extreme events happen as the climate changes more frequently, we need to have different sources of renewable energy, and we need to place it across New Zealand to have sufficient energy for everyone.
PH: Okay. We’re crossing now to Omar Mourad, who, as I said, was the other team member on the first placing team. You also looked in quite some depth at some of the different ways that we get power and energy here in New Zealand and the corresponding issues around that. You want to add to that?
OMAR MOURAD: Yep. Of course. So currently in New Zealand we are trying to diversify away from hydro already. And our team wanted to look at the ways that we are already diversifying and complement those ways. So the problems with hydro have been identified and the overreliance on that. And because of this, industrial solar has started growing. There are projects for wind farms across New Zealand and we wanted to see how to complement those projects, to have a coherent strategy that continues until 2050.
PH: All right. So what you’re saying is we’ve currently diversified a little. There is currently a main reliance on hydroelectric power. There is some wind farm activity. There’s some solar farm activity but not much else and some geothermal activity. And you’re all looking at how we can make things better.
From failing grid to genius grid: foreign investment & smart metering solutions
PH: In terms of the issues, some of the things that you also outlined were the grid. Miles, do you want to talk to us a little bit more about that?
MT: Yeah. So as Jia brought up, naturally with an increasing population in the move towards electrification of a number of key industries, there’s going to be more pressure on the grid. I approached that as a need for more investment into the grid. So one of my strategies was setting up a government agency that connected for investment with electricity specific infrastructure projects that sits in this new zone, which is coming into effect at the end of this month: the National infrastructure Agency and the Electricity Authority. And the idea there is to funnel foreign investment into geothermal projects but they could be renewable projects as well. And my research did show that there was a keen appetite from foreign investors into New Zealand with the changes to the active investor plus program visa. We’ve seen over $600 million already invested in New Zealand, so there’s a clear appetite for foreign investment into New Zealand. And I think that’s a good way to get funding for these projects.
PH: Okay, great. So we got a bit of a visual around this. When you say the grid has issues, are we thinking there’s actual hardware falling to pieces that needs to be replaced and renewed in addition to really outdated software? Is that correct?
OM: Of course. So the grid needs to develop as demand increases across New Zealand. So when you have a grid that can only supply a certain amount of energy to a certain number of households, and demand begins to increase across a certain number of years, the grid needs to advance with this. And when climate change situations happen, like the hurricane, the grid starts to break down across New Zealand and lots of different places which affects people’s lives. And because of this, the grid needs to become more advanced in terms of both hardware and software to adjust for things like climate change and for the increased demand across New Zealand.
PH: Okay, so we’ve got a bit of a dual strategy going. Miles, you’ve talked specifically around how we need money for this. I mean, these things don’t just get fixed without significant investments. And you’ve come up with a really good solution in terms of foreign investments. And one of the things that you also covered in your presentation is around how local communities could be protected around that; we’ll go into that shortly. And then Omar, you and Jia have come up with a solution around smart metering. Miles, just a little bit more in depth around how you see local iwi involvement and New Zealand really benefiting from it in a way that we can still control the process.
MT: Yeah. So one of the questions that came from the judges was, how can we ensure that the local communities are protected with foreign investment requiring a greater rate of return than perhaps public investment. And my answer to that was – particularly in the volcanic zone where geothermal is abundant – a lot of the land there is still owned by Māori entities. Needless to say, they’ve looked after those resources for generations, and they have a strong community bottom line. Any private company that wants to partner with a geothermal field in New Zealand, or created geothermal plants in New Zealand will need to partner with local iwi and yeah, I’ll trust them to not pass all the costs on and exploit Kiwis.
PH: Jia, I’d like to find out a little bit more about your smart metering solution. You had a really catchy name for it and some solid ideas behind it. And what I liked is that you managed to bring together community and also industry. So a lot of clever thinking around that. Do you want to talk us through that?
JG: We think it’s very important to get everyone involved to build a sustainable, efficient, affordable and secure energy system in New Zealand. And we see that in New Zealand, actually most families have already deployed smart meters, but not everyone has. And it’s essential to have the smart meters in order for us to see the electricity usage and to see the demand and the supply so then we can have better control. Our strategy was the Genius Grid. We do see that we should prioritise regions with high demands of electricity to upgrade these first, because if we imagine the grid as traffic, the grid is basically the car and the people, the electricity. So if we get a jam or a crash, then everything for that region stops. So basically we need to upgrade and the grids and the smart meters like CCTVs to see how can we actually help and manage the system.
PH: Okay. And what would you say to… often you hear criticisms for big projects like this. By the way, I love the name Genius Grid that you two came up with. So often there’s a lot of criticism around, Auckland or Wellington: the big cities always get the innovations first. What would you say to that kind of criticism or how do you see this rolling out quite equitably?
JG: I think prioritising regions within a dense population and high demand of electricity because it impacts the most people. For regions like Waikato, where most land is maybe like farmland, things are spaced out more. So then when an event happens, like an earthquake or Cyclone Gabrielle the effect on more spaced out land compared to a dense population land is much smaller. So then I guess when we roll out… when the government has to roll out their strategies, they just have to prioritise where is most affected.
PH: All right. So we’ve got a lot of tackling of the grid here, which is fantastic. We’ve got the Genius Grid. We’ve got some foreign investment, a great deal of foreign investment potentially coming in to help support that. I want to hear more about this geothermal solution because that’s really exciting. And as you say, there’s been this massive reliance on hydroelectric power. Any droughts, any cyclones or weather events can negatively affect that. Even too much water cannot be a good thing.
The energy security and demand flexibility bill: 24/7 geothermal energy
PH: How do you see geothermal power really rolling out other than just with investments in terms of the implementation of the projects here.
MT: There’s already a number of projects, particularly around the Bay of Plenty that are either just finishing development or are about to begin redevelopment. That Te Mihi Stage 2 project in Tauhara is a partnership between Contact Energy and Ormat technologies, I believe. Yeah, that’s a good example of what I think the future pipeline of geothermal projects will look like. It’ll look like a domestic player partnering with overseas, either investors or technology providers.
PH: Currently, I think you looked at about 60% hydro and 19% geothermal and so you’re looking at really diversifying that.
MT: Iceland’s a good case study for it. I think their electricity portfolio is made up of 30% geothermal. And they benefit from the energy security that New Zealand lacks.
PH: Okay. And I really like how you’re leveraging this existing expertise on natural advantages and that you’re really thinking through those crucial questions of energy security and stability, which can be so tricky to do. How do you see this project pipeline rolling out?
MT: I think New Zealand is lucky in terms of we are one of the few places in the world where we have this access to these geothermal resources, and it would be a waste to see it not, be utilised, especially if it’s providing, you know, economic benefits for regions and security for households.
PH: You talked a little more about the energy security and demand flexibility bill. So do you want to tell us a little bit more about that? For those of our listeners who don’t know what this is?
MT: That bill was one of my strategies. And it is based on demand response agreements and the agreements between electricity providers and large electricity users. And essentially they provide a formal plan for the users to reduce or shift their electricity usage in times of energy stress and high demand. A good example of this is the New Zealand Aluminium Smelters agreement in North Shore with Meridian Energy and they are New Zealand’s largest electricity user at, I think, 492MW. And they’re able to scale down to 205MW. This works because their holding company is a multinational, and they have production facilities overseas. So when they’re asked to reduce their electricity usage in New Zealand, they are financially compensated for scaling down but they can continue operations through their international manufacturing plants.
PH: That’s really sensible. You’ve really stressed that regulatory support is needed, that the strong message needs to be sent that New Zealand is a safe place to invest and do business. And then you also had some really solid strategies around the National Electricity Investment Task Force.
MT: Yeah, yeah. So as I touched on earlier, geothermal projects are inherently more expensive than the likes of solar, but they do provide that 24/7 baseload of electricity. Because the thing with these industrial users is they operate 24/7 you know, night-time when solar can’t provide solutions for it. They’re still operating at the same level they were during the day. So, the focus is on geothermal, although it is more expensive, it provides the 24/7 baseload of electricity and the idea with the investment strategy with foreign investment is to get more of that 24/7 electricity supply.
PH: Absolutely. And to bridge that $50 billion infrastructure investment gap that you’ve identified. So it’s really great that you’ve been so clear about what the gaps are, being able to quantify those, and then coming up with a solid solution of how we can leverage foreign investment.
Solar solutions: the solar savings account
PH: Now, you mentioned solar. So I’d like to come over to Omar and Jia – I’ll direct this to you. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about your solar solution?
OM: Yeah. So we saw that New Zealand already has growing industrial solar facilities across the country, and we wanted to contribute to that growth in other creative ways, because having industrial solar is good. But you need to have more, more diverse, solar infrastructure across the whole country because when it is more decentralised or distributed, you have a safer and more secure grid. Think of it like this, if my grid breaks down in the North Island, my South Island can continue running. If my grid breaks down in the neighbourhood next to me and I have solar in my neighbourhood, my neighbourhood will stay fine. And they can focus on fixing that specific neighbourhood without the grid falling apart.
OM: So our solar strategy had two prongs to it. The first of which was the increasing residential solar. And to do this, we came up with a creative strategy of creating a solar savings account for the government with households, in return for households getting an interest free loan and how that would work as the government gives you an interest free loan for solar to put on top of your household. And in return for this they get allocated 30% of your energy production on paper. Which they can choose to redeem during dry years or when energy crises happen, which brings the spot price down for everyone overall.
PH: That’s great. And I liked how you came up with that idea of a solar savings accounts. And we’ve had some quite in-depth chats around what that would look like for the average household. So as you said, there would be cheaper spot prices. There would also be free electricity from your own electricity that you’re generating, and then just a general distribution across the country in advance of natural disasters or energy shortages elsewhere. We also talked about utilising floating solar arrays, and I think we described that as if you’re going to envision giant lily pads on bodies of water. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about this?
OM: Yeah. Of course. So that was the second prong of the solar strategy. We have lots of wastewater facilities in New Zealand, lots of hydro facilities in New Zealand, and that’s surface area that is not being utilised for anything at all. So people are not going to swim in those bodies of water. And putting giant lily pads of solar panels on top of them will provide extra electricity facilities for New Zealand without having to get agreements for clearing plots of land. You don’t necessarily have to create clear plots of land for industrial solar, but the bureaucratic process to get agreements for putting solar panels on land becomes simpler when you utilise those bodies of water, and they should be utilised for this.
Judging highlights: solarscapes, investment & wind
PH: Okay. And Emilson, I’d like to come back to you now. I have been incredibly impressed by the novelty of many of these solutions, the thoroughness of how these student winners have gone through their research, conducted it, and really tackled these salient issues. What did you find the most challenging or surprising part of overseeing that judging panel and hearing these presentations live?
ES: The perception of the judges was that the proposals there were sound in terms of… let’s consider the same ideas proposed in terms of geothermal baseload solution coupled with a better system of demand response, a more efficient system than that could provide the energy security that we need in times of crisis. If one can consider that that is in place, then that should reduce future prices. Then it would have also positive impact on the current wholesale prices. So that would bring more stability.
ES: Bringing in more stability, more economic affordability, more security then brings in more foreign direct investment and New Zealand becomes a more attractive country to invest and to produce, because you are somewhat assured that energy costs are going to be low and that even in periods of crisis, you have potential solutions. So for Jia’s group then, the combination of demand and supply again and I think that was one of the common factors of both groups. They thought not only in terms of solely supply or demand, but then a combination of the two and what they offered in terms of potential additions to what we have in terms of solar. The idea of having solar panels in this body of water that essentially is not being used was fascinating, because it was just one of the novel ideas. Nobody would actually think about that. And I don’t think that there are a lot of people in the industry that are contemplating that.
ES: In some countries, there is currently a competition between solar farms and traditional farms for land. Right. So then that that has an impact in terms of food prices. So then if we think in terms of providing renewable types of electricity and then having a trade off with food prices with food, because land is sometimes a competing resource. There are some projects… there are some solar farms over here in New Zealand, which tend to have both, you have agriculture and also energy being produced, but that is not there. Let’s say it reduces the possibilities, right, for the types of traditional farming. So having some ideas of how you can use the current landscape or even the waterscape, let’s say, that would be potentially ideal surfaces for capturing sunlight – that was really one of the aspects that the judges thought, wow, you know, we do not think about that. Right.
ES: And then with Miles, I think that was, the combination of geothermal and then also this idea of coming up with this proposal that he had in terms of bringing in some investment. But then it appeared that it was something like a public and private partnership type, or the potential for a public and private partnership. Right? So then you could think about even having a follow up. You could think in terms of having bonds, green bonds issued that would supplement some of the investments there. So this idea of green bonds being used to provide some resources for the development of renewable energy. Yeah, they are being contemplated everywhere. And so I think, when we start thinking about potential solutions, just like for the provision for the demand side, and also in terms of the financial aspects, then we have the key elements to move forward with also developing new technologies. So you have the investment, you have the ideas, and then you have the dynamics in place.
ES: Some of the judges had some experience in the energy sector. They have been the undersecretary for quite some time where they have been observing the energy sector for quite some time. They had some questions about some of the potentials that are not currently well explored, that it should be further explored without having government participation or, you know, free market. So then solar farms is one of the sectors. Right. So we have the potential to expand, but then also wind. So we have a lot of potential for wind generation, both on the ground (so like the internal) but then also offshore and in particular offshore. There is a huge potential here in New Zealand because the resource is available and the wind is strong in some parts of New Zealand, 24/7. There should be more attention paid to wind as well. I think that it was the portfolio of options that were offered by district teams that fascinated the judges and think there are some new ideas and some new way of thinking for even some of the ideas that have been contemplated for quite some time, like geothermal. So I think that was the key aspects that moved the judges to say, these teams, they are way above their competitors in terms of the ideas and the implementation aspects.
Weathering changes in government
PH: They were really solid submissions. Having looked over them, I’m going to now open up a question to both teams. Miles, I’ll start with you thinking through our energy requirements up to 2050. We have a change of government every four years and often in the recent past, these seem to really seesaw in terms of policies and almost to an extent that it feels a little like some governments may be undoing what the previous governments have put in place rather than progressing. So how do you see your solutions being able to weather these changes in government from left to right, right to left and how we can really look after the entire population.
MT: Yeah. So I think a good starting point is to figure out what we can agree on. And I’m sure all New Zealanders can agree that what we need is a stable and secure energy supply and a way to properly manage how our demands is used. If we use that as a starting point, I’m sure we can get to a solution that pleases both sides.
PH: Fantastic. Omar, do you have anything to add to that?
OM: Yep. So with our solutions for our team, we wanted to focus on strategies that didn’t put a strong load on government resources. And that’s why we picked holistic umbrella strategies that would allow the private sector to flourish within the energy sector as well.
PH: Okay. We’ve been talking about how this challenge was all around, coming up with solutions to build a secure, affordable, sustainable and efficient electricity system by 2050. This magical year. Jia, do you want to talk us through some of the projected energy needs we will have by 2050?
JG: Yes, in terms of the demand by 2050, we are definitely seeing fast growing demand, faster than ever. I think the top three sectors that are growing are transport, industrial and commercial. With industrial, as most companies are wanting to become more sustainable they are switching their processing units and electric based or renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. With commercials, we see that a lot of data and data centre projects are coming into New Zealand to diversify their data centre risks. So the demand is growing very fast to 2050.
PH: So we’re kind of thinking it’s going to double. We’re all using cars, electric cars, there are these industrial requirements… Now I’m just thinking around some of your solutions like the Genius Grid and leveraging things – let’s say, like AI – those have an ironically, correspondingly high energy usage in terms of where that energy is stored and what they need to use. So how can that be balanced? It must be quite a tightrope.
JG: Yes. I definitely believe that we have enough resources to power what we need. It’s just the matter of… we need to install these. And smart meters helps us to better see how much we’re using, how much we have to supply so that we can better manage the system and better manage the price in terms of solar, hydro power and Miles’ geothermal strategies. We definitely see that we have enough natural resources to power New Zealand.
Behind the scenes: what made the winners enter?
PH: Yeah. Okay. That’s a really good answer. Now, just crossing over to why you all decided to do this in the first place. Miles, what made you decide to enter this gruelling intellectual challenge that was going to make a great deal of demands on you in energy, of all things.
MT: The financial part of it was pretty tempting.
PH: Quite a bit of a price incentive, right?
MT: Yeah, yeah but look, I think it’s definitely a challenging case once you open it. It was a bit overwhelming initially, and I signed up by myself because I didn’t want to burden anyone. I wasn’t sure how serious I was going to take it, but I found the more that I looked into it, the more it resonated with me personally, growing up in Rotorua around all the geothermal and the importance of actually solving that issue for our regional economies, the industrial users and New Zealand as a whole. So yeah, I sort of leaned in to the challenge and my interest in it grew as I went through the case.
PH: Fantastic. And here you are, one of the winners. Fantastic. Now Jia, I heard that you had avoided solving the energy case because it is reputed to be one of the most challenging out of all of the case competitions. So what made you finally go for it?
JG: I started doing Case the second year of university and I’d been hearing about the Energy Case Competition. But it just seems, because the energy sector is huge and there’s so many things that you can dig into I’ve just been kind of scared of the challenge and whether I can actually find a solution to the problem they propose. There’s definite overwhelm when we first see the challenge, because, for all the cases that I’ve done before, you are given multiple issues and you prioritise them, and you come up with strategies, but with the Energy Case Competition, you’re given a go and you have to find the issues and then come up with strategy. And there are a lot of issues that we’re facing and there are a lot of details to it. So it’s a lot of work, but I agree with what Miles said, once you actually start digging into the industry, you find how interesting it is and you get to see the approach that New Zealand is currently taking and you get to see all of these things, like when we’re at home, we just know the power is down, but you don’t know what is going on behind the scenes. But when you’re doing the Case Competition, you get to see the little details and everything in what’s going on.
PH: And that’s fascinating. Yeah. That’s great. Omar, how about you?
OM: Firstly, I just want to say props to Miles for doing it on his own. It takes a lot of effort. Yeah. Just knowing the time I put into it and that Miles did it completely on his own. That’s very special. For me, Jia and I had met four years ago – my first year of university, her second year. We did a taster together in the Case Program, which trains us to do these cases. And I had also avoided the Energy Case Competition. You have to submit a ten page report. It comes at a time where we have lots of assignments and lots of mid-semester tests on, and it’s this big thing. But Jia convinced me to sign up. And when we did, we received the case. And like Miles said, as soon as you dive into it, you realise that you’re really going to enjoy this.
OM: It’s very different from every other Case competition. A traditional Case often has 3 or 4 issues. This Case had 15 or 16 listed at the end. And if you look at it and you’re like, how am I going to cover all of this at the same time? How am I going to think about solving all these problems that affect people’s lives on a daily basis? And then you also get to lift the hood and see what the energy sector is actually like. It’s one of the most complex sectors that all economies rely on. There are so many moving parts and we need it for our everyday lives.
A message to change makers
PH: It was huge. I’ve looked through the criteria and found it formidable, formidable. I would have been quite daunted myself. Right. Miles. Closing comments. If somebody in the energy sector, or some politicians or people with the power to make these things happen by 2050 were listening, what would you want to say to them?
MT: I would say that it all really just starts with the conversation. I think we should lean in to solving these issues for the good of New Zealanders across both sides of the political spectrum. Our regional economies do need our industry users to continue to do business in New Zealand. So getting around the table and figuring out how we can send strong messages to them, that New Zealand is a good place to invest and do business, I think is vital for both to continue the continued thriving of our economy.
PH: Jia, what would you want to say to anyone listening with the power to make things happen?
JG: I would say that time is ticking, that energy is at the heart of everything. We people need it. Businesses need it. The whole of New Zealand needs it. And we’ve seen what the problem is. So we need to act on it. Energy for me is not just about how much electricity you can generate, or making sure everything is renewable. It’s about economically ensuring that the country continues to grow and that people’s lives are secure and as comfortable as they have been. And if you don’t make sure that the electricity demands are met for a country sustainably and efficiently and securely, you’re taking away from the economic growth that New Zealand could have as a whole. You’re affecting the whole economic growth of a country which will change lives for generations to come.
PH: That’s so true. And, Emilson, if you had to reach out to future students and entrants for the Case Competition and perhaps industry leaders as well, what message would you want to send?
ES: Well, the first message is that the Energy Case Competition is a real challenge. Perhaps, you know, the biggest challenge at the university. But as they mention, it is an exciting sector to work in, and to engage in trying to find a solution because energy, as they mention, all of them, is a key input into the production process. To move the economy forward, we need to have a more efficient… They talked about, you know, in terms of the demand side, and also in the supply side, we need to come up with solutions like innovation, new policies, new ways of thinking that would increase efficiency. But then at the same time, you know, they focus mostly on energy security and affordability.
ES: They talked about the network, they talked about the grid. But then all of these factors that they mention, most of them would have a positive impact in terms of sustainability as well. I would say yes, please come to the sector. The sector needs you. There is a real challenge for the industry to fill some of the positions in energy. The competition is there. Other countries are attracting the talent that we have and we should keep the talent here. But then keeping the talent here means that we need a more efficient, a more attractive energy sector, and then we need to facilitate that to some extent. The competition is not only domestic, it is international. And the challenges that we face in terms of energy are not only domestic, they are international challenges. A lot of the countries that are going through the energy transition, they are trying to find solutions to similar problems. They have different types of resources.
ES: We are fortunate here in New Zealand to have a lot of natural resources that other countries don’t have, but the key issues that we address over here in terms of energy security, affordability, and sustainability and efficiency, those are issues that all countries are trying to come up with solutions. And they have high paying jobs elsewhere. So we should have the high paying jobs here as well for that to have an impact. We need economic growth. We need the demand side, you know, to be growing and so as to value more this valuable input that these young minds have. Right. So we would like to keep them here. Hopefully, they’re going to be working on the energy sector because they have very good ways of thinking and holistic ways of thinking and how to move forward.
PH: You’re absolutely right. Well, you’ve been listening to the Energy Centre’s podcast showcasing this year’s 2025 Energy Case Competition winners and their solutions to building a secure, affordable, sustainable electricity system by 2050.
This podcast has been hosted by Dr Pauline Herbst and co-produced by Pauline Herbst and Tim Page from the University of Auckland. Special thanks to the Energy Education Trust of New Zealand, the University of Auckland Case Club and judges Bryan Mogridge, Susan Paterson, Esther Evening, Erwann Sbai, David Ratcliff and Professor Emilson Silva and of course, our 2025 winners Jia Gu, Omar Mourad and Miles Tapsell.