Another Fonterra site switching boilers from coal

Fonterra is continuing to progress its decarbonisation work with the announcement of another site transitioning from coal and the installation of a heat pump and solar thermal system.

The Co-operative will convert its coal boilers at its Hautapu site to wood pellets and install a heat pump at its Palmerston North milk processing site that supplies the local market. Both projects have recieved support from the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry (GIDI) Process Heat Contestable Fund.

Fonterra Chief Operating Officer Fraser Whineray says the Co-operative is commercially focused on reducing emissions. “There are a number of solutions we’re using to decarbonise our operations and these two projects are a good example of different technologies available.”

These projects are just two of many underway to decarbonise the Fonterra business, such as the Waitoa and Stirling sites that are in the process of installing wood biomass boilers to transition out of coal.

The Stirling wood biomass boiler will fire up for the first time today (21 April), marking the next step on the site’s transition to be totally reliant on renewable energy for its process heat. Changing to this boiler will reduce the annual carbon emissions by 18,500 tonnes – the equivalent of taking approximately 7,700 cars off New Zealand’s roads.

The new Waitoa wood biomass boiler, due to be operational in November 2023, will reduce the site’s annual carbon emissions by approximately 48,000 tonnes, the equivalent of taking approximately 20,000 cars off New Zealand’s roads.

Source: Stuff