Edgecumbe Co-generation plant is Todd Energy’s answer to Fonterra's requirement for reliable low cost energy.

 Edgecumbe Co-generation Station is wholly owned by Todd Energy via our retail/generation business, Bay of Plenty Energy.

This site provides Fonterra with a reliable on-site energy stream for their summer dairy season, while Bay of Plenty Energy is able to service some of its domestic customers in the winter with excess electricity from the plant.

Location

The plant is located in Edgecumbe in the Bay of Plenty at Fonterra’s Edgecumbe dairy processing factory.

Purpose

Fonterra required a supplier who could meet their energy demands.  Bay of Plenty Energy provided a station that meets the factory's entire thermal and electrical energy requirements while also providing enough excess electricity to supply about 4,000 Bay of Plenty customers.

In fact, the facility is an extraordinarily good fit.  Fonterra's peak electricity needs are during the warmer summer months when domestic electricity demand is low. Low factory electricity usage in winter allows generation for domestic winter usage when domestic demand peaks.

History

The Station was commissioned in 1996 and it was the first co-generation plant to be built by a New Zealand regional power company within a customer's factory complex.

Benefits

Environmental efficiency can be achieved by using new generation technology.  Smaller "embedded" generation units allow savings to be made while more efficiently using input fuel.

By producing heat and electricity onsite, losses due to transportation of the electricity or conversion into heat/cooling or kinetic motion are avoided.  These savings mean there are fewer emissions into the environment and consequent fuel savings for future generations.

Natural gas is typically used to drive gas turbine generators equipped with a heat recovery boiler, which captures the thermal energy from the turbine's exhaust and uses it to make steam.

The efficiencies of a co-generation plant versus a conventional thermal plant (e.g. Huntly Thermal Station).
Diagram.

Generating Plant

The Edgecumbe Co-generation Station consists of two General Electric Corporation (GEC) Typhoons rated at 5 MW each.

The plant produces up to 60 tonnes an hour of steam for use in the Fonterra milk processing plant.