Fonterra Whareroa Dairy FactoryFonterra Whareroa Dairy FactoryThe Whareroa co-generation project is an example of Todd Energy’s ability to provide a total energy package to power New Zealand industry.
Fonterra’s innovative approach revolutionised the dairy industry. Transporting milk from all over the North Island to its Hawera factory, it is the largest single-site dairy products producer anywhere in the world.
Aside from milk, the single most important element in the Whareroa operation is a highly efficient and reliable supply of energy. But Fonterra wanted more than simply an energy supplier – it wanted an innovative energy partner.
Fonterra sought a company with the insight to understand its energy requirements and with the expertise and resources to meet them. The company it looked to was Todd Energy.
What Fonterra needs is steam – a million tonnes of it a year – and enough electricity to power a city the size of Napier. What Todd Energy has is gas – at its onshore gas field in Kapuni.
The marriage between the two is the very latest in power generation technology. A 70 MW co-generation plant has been installed at the Whareroa site in a 50-50 ownership deal between Todd and Fonterra.
A specially constructed 22 kilometre long pipeline transports 5 petajoules of Kapuni gas a year (2 ½ times as much as used by the whole of Wellington city) to the plant – as well as supplying other Todd customers with gas along the way. The co-generation plant's modern gas turbine engines burn the gas to turn the generators, producing 500 gigawatt hours of electricity a year.
Exhaust heat from the turbines is channelled through giant heat exchangers to produce steam – enough to meet the needs of the Whareroa Factory. And in the off-season, when steam demand is lower, the surplus is diverted to a steam turbine to generate further electricity.
The Todd Energy/Fonterra partnership provides an energy package that not only meets the needs of the dairy factory but also makes the consortium a net supplier of energy in the form of gas and steam to local industry and electricity to the nation grid.
Truly a Todd Energy solution!