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Offshore Renewable Energy Bill

Decommissioning of ORE infrastructure - Decommissioning obligation - What does decommissioning obligation require

74: When decommissioning obligation must be carried out

You could also call this:

"When you must clean up old offshore energy equipment"

Illustration for Offshore Renewable Energy Bill

If you have to decommission offshore renewable energy infrastructure, you must do it before certain times. You have to meet the costs of decommissioning and do it by the earliest of these times: when you stop using the infrastructure and the Minister agrees on a time, when your commercial permit expires or you give it up, when you stop using transmission infrastructure and the Minister agrees on a time, or by a time set by regulations.

If your commercial permit is revoked, you still have to decommission the infrastructure. You must do this by a time agreed with the Minister or set by the Minister. This applies even if you no longer hold the permit because it was revoked.

You are responsible for meeting the costs of decommissioning the infrastructure in all cases.

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This page was last updated on 29 June 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS992229.

73: Standard of decommissioning required, or

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

74A: Criteria for agreeing or setting time frames for decommissioning, or

"Deciding when to stop using an offshore renewable energy site: what the Minister thinks about"

Part 3Decommissioning of ORE infrastructure
Decommissioning obligation: What does decommissioning obligation require

74When decommissioning obligation must be carried out

Any person who is liable to carry out, and meet the costs of, the decommissioning of ORE infrastructure under this Part must carry out their decommissioning obligation before the earliest of the following:
in a case where ORE generation infrastructure permanently ceases to be used for the purpose of generating energy in a permit area before the commercial permit expires, by a time agreed with the Minister:
in the case of ORE generation infrastructure, by the expiry or surrender of the commercial permit under which the ORE generation infrastructure activities were carried out:
in a case where ORE transmission infrastructure permanently ceases to be used for the purpose of storing, transmitting, or conveying energy, by a time agreed with the Minister:
by a time required by the regulations.

However, if a commercial permit is revoked, the person who held the permit immediately before it was revoked must carry out their decommissioning obligation of the ORE generation infrastructure by a time agreed with, or specified by, the Minister.