The proportion of renewable energy in New Zealand's total energy supply reached a record high last year, a government report said Wednesday.

    "Renewable energy made up 39.5 percent of New Zealand's total primary energy supply, up 1.3 percent from the previous year," Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) manager of energy and building trends Bryan Field said on the release of the Energy in New Zealand 2015 report.

    "This is the highest contribution on record and places New Zealand third on this measure internationally, after Iceland and Norway. This was due to strong growth in geothermal electricity generation in 2014."

    Also last year, electricity consumption returned to growth after three consecutive years of decline.

    "Electricity consumption in 2014 rose by 1.2 percent to 39,210 GWh (gigawatt hours). A large increase in consumption -- up 14.5 percent from 2013 -- from the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector was responsible for the majority of this increase," Field said in a statement.

    The report also showed that the level of proven and probable ( 2P) remaining reserves of oil and gas reduced was 115 million barrels, down 17 percent from the end of 2013.

    "The biggest factor in the reduction in remaining reserves of oil and gas was production during the year," Field said.

    "On the other hand, exploration activity in 2014 was high. All up, a total of 33 wells were drilled in 2014, 22 of which were exploration wells."

    More than 2 billion NZ dollars (1.3 billion U.S. dollars) was spent on oil and gas exploration and development in 2014, up by 30. 9 percent from 2013 and the highest level of expenditure on record.

    Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges said the report showed New Zealand was making real gains in transitioning to a lower carbon economy.

    "As I announced earlier in the year, in 2014 renewable electricity generation hit 79.9 percent, the highest level since 1996," Bridges said in a statement.