New Zealand
NZLNew Zealand is third in the world for geothermal.
Geothermal supplies 22% of its electricity.
What this grid depends on
Three measures that say more about a country than how much power it makes. Open “what this means” on any of them if the term is new.
Among the cleanest electricity anywhere.
What this means
How much planet-warming gas is released to make one unit of electricity. Two countries can generate exactly the same amount and one of them be ten times dirtier doing it. Lower is better.
New Zealand generates almost exactly what it uses, with next to nothing crossing its borders.
What this means
Electricity can be sold across a border like anything else, through high-voltage lines connecting one country's grid to the next. Buying it in means leaning on a neighbour to keep the lights on. Selling it means generating more than the country needs.
Most of what this grid runs on is produced at home.
What this means
How much of what this grid runs on the country can supply itself. Sun, wind and water count fully, because nobody can cut them off; coal, gas and oil only as far as the country digs them up. A high score is not the same as a good grid: mining your own coal scores well, importing uranium scores badly.
Also true of New Zealand
New Zealand has cleaned up its grid faster than most people realise.
Low-carbon electricity went from 64% to 89% in 20 years.
New Zealand has taken the carbon out of its electricity fast.
143 grams of CO2e a kilowatt-hour in 2015, 93 in 2025.
Geothermal overtook gas on New Zealand's grid in 2015.
Today geothermal supplies 22% and gas 9%.
New Zealand’s neighbours
New CaledoniaCoal overtook hydro on New Caledonia's grid in 2010.
FijiHydro overtook oil on Fiji's grid in 2018.
SamoaSamoa is among the world's biggest wind and solar producers and still burns fossil fuels for most of its power.
American SamoaAmerican Samoa generates no hydro electricity at all, in a region built on it.
Solomon IslandsThe Solomon Islands generates no hydro electricity at all, in a region built on it.
Figures are for 2025, the most recent year reported for New Zealand. Generation shares are a percentage of electricity generated, not of energy used. How this is calculated.