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Offshore Renewable Energy Bill

Decommissioning of ORE infrastructure - Decommissioning obligation - Who has decommissioning obligation

72: Minister must remove release transferor from decommissioning obligation in some circumstances

You could also call this:

"Minister must let you off decommissioning duty in certain situations"

Illustration for Offshore Renewable Energy Bill

The Minister has to let someone who transferred their permit or ownership of infrastructure out of their responsibility to decommission it in certain situations. You might be in this situation if you transferred your permit under section 42 to someone else and asked the Minister to release you from your decommissioning responsibility. This can happen for offshore renewable energy generation or transmission infrastructure.

The Minister will release you from this responsibility if they are satisfied the new owner has a suitable financial plan in place. This plan must cover at least 100% of the estimated cost to decommission the infrastructure that was there when it was transferred.

The Minister can also release you from this responsibility earlier if they think it's fair, considering things like the new owner's financial situation and any existing financial plans.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS992225.

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71: Owners have decommissioning obligation for ORE transmission infrastructure, or

"Owners must dismantle and dispose of old offshore renewable energy equipment"

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73: Standard of decommissioning required, or

"How to properly shut down and remove old offshore energy equipment"

Part 3Decommissioning of ORE infrastructure
Decommissioning obligation: Who has decommissioning obligation

72Minister must remove release transferor from decommissioning obligation in some circumstances

  1. This section applies if—

  2. a commercial permit holder (the transferor) has transferred their permit under section 42 to a transferee and applies to the Minister to be released from their decommissioning obligation in respect of ORE generation infrastructure; or
    1. an owner of ORE transmission infrastructure (the transferor) has transferred ownership of that infrastructure to a transferee and applies to the Minister to be released from their decommissioning obligation in respect of that ORE transmission infrastructure.

      1. The Minister must release the transferor from their decommissioning obligation—

      2. if the Minister is satisfied that the transferee has put in place an acceptable financial security arrangement with an amount secured of no less than 100% of the amount determined in accordance with the regulations, based on the decommissioning cost estimate for all ORE generation infrastructure or ORE transmission infrastructure (as the case may be) that was in place at the time of transfer; or
        1. if the transferee is the State enterprise known as Transpower New Zealand Limited.

          1. The Minister may release the transferor from their decommissioning obligation earlier, in whole or in part, if the Minister is satisfied that the transferor should no longer continue to be liable to carry out, and meet the costs of, decommissioning the relevant infrastructure under this Part, after taking into account factors such as the details of the existing financial security arrangements and the financial capability of the transferee.