Support for the Government's decision to increase electrification of industrial processes in the lower South Island

It's promising to invest 70-million dollars in the project, which will also help upgrade transmission lines, and support industrial users to convert coal boilers to electricity.

MacDiarmid Institute co-director Justin Hodgkiss says the shift towards electricity is positive - because it's only five percent of New Zealand's carbon footprint.

He says it's a no brainer to go down the electricity path, moving New Zealand away from fossil fuels.