Keith Turner (businessman)

Keith Sharman Turner is a New Zealand businessman. He is a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand.

In September 2007, New Zealand Listener magazine placed Turner in 14th position in its 2007 Power List of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand, down from 12th in the 2006 Power List and 42nd place in 2005.^[1]

Career

Turner's early career was in the New Zealand electricity industry, in which he began in 1969.

• Managing director, DesignPower, a professional engineering consultancy to the electricity industry
• Chief Operating Officer, Electricity Corporation of New Zealand prior to its breakup in 1999
• Chief Executive, Meridian Energy, 1999 to 2008.^[2]
• Deputy Chairman, Auckland International Airport, Director since 2004
• Director, Spark Infrastructure
• Chairman, Fisher & Paykel 2011
• Member of the Interim Climate Change Committee, 2018^[3]

Renewable energy

Turner has expressed interest in social, economic and environmental sustainability, and renewable energy in New Zealand.^[4] In The case for renewable generation in 2004 he said: "The choices we make – you and I and the rest of New Zealand – the choices we make over the next few years, are going to shape the energy structure of our society for at least the next one, and possibly the next two, generations".^[5]

According to Turner, a viable transmission grid is an important ingredient of his renewable energy strategy.^[6] He has been critical of the lack of investment in the electricity transmission grid in New Zealand by the state-owned enterprise Transpower. In November 2005, he advised that "New Zealand's electricity grid is so overworked that some lines cannot be taken out for servicing", which was vindicated by the 2006 Auckland Blackout, when half of Auckland lost power during a storm because an earth wire snapped and fell on switching equipment.^[7]

Turner is part owner of Waitaki Wind Limited, a company investigating wind farms in Otago.^[8]

References

1. New Zealand Listener (November 2006). "2006 Power List of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
2. Meridian Energy. "Meridian Chief Executive to step down in March 2008". Archived from the original on 2008-03-16. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
3. Shaw, James (17 April 2018). "Interim Climate Change Committee announced" (Press release).
4. Sarah Daniell. "Power Broker". New Zealand Listener. Retrieved 2006-07-26.
5. Keith Turner. "The case for renewable generation". Meridian Energy. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2006-07-24.
6. Meridian Energy (August 30, 2005). "New Zealand Wind Energy Association Conference". Archived from the original on 2006-08-28. Retrieved 2006-07-24.
7. The Dominion Post (15 June 2006). "Expect more blackouts, Auckland told". Archived from the original on 3 January 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2006.
8. Bruce, David (8 August 2011). "More monitoring to determine wind-farm feasibility". Otago Daily Times.