The installation of a 20-megawatt electrode boiler at Fonterra’s Edendale plant in New Zealand is the latest step for the dairy giant to stop using coal by 2037.
The NZ$36 million investment will reduce the sites emissions by around 20 per cent, or 47,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions. It will reduce Fonterra’s overall carbon emissions from its 2018 baseline by nearly three per cent once operational.
The company’s goal is to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 from a 2018 baseline.
Fonterra Acting COO, Anna Palairet, said, “With up to 15 million litres of milk being processed at our Edendale site each day, we need to ensure we have a secure energy supply that can meet processing demands.
“Cost is also an important consideration. Getting out of coal requires significant investment and we need to choose the best option that reduces emissions and operational complexity while also doing what’s best for our farmer shareholders.”
Fonterra is partnering with Meridian Energy for the electricity supply. It generates electricity from 100 per cent renewable resources – wind, water and sun.
Meridian CEO Neal Barclay said, "Energy contributes around 40 per cent of Aotearoa's total gross emissions and process heat makes up a third of this country's energy use. So, it makes sense for Meridian to work with big industry to switch energy sources to clean energy alternatives.”
The Electric Boiler Project is being co-funded as part of a previously announced EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority) partnership. The partnership involves Fonterra achieving approximately 2.1 million tonnes of earlier CO2e reductions by undertaking a range of decarbonisation projects at its manufacturing sites.
Other projects underway or completed to reduce its emissions from manufacturing:
Fonterra expects to further reduce its emissions through a combination of energy efficiency initiatives and switching fuels at its six manufacturing sites that will still be using coal in 2024, and ultimately stop using coal by 2037.
Fonterra’s Waitoa manufacturing site is now using around 50% less coal as its new wood biomass boiler is operational. This makes it the third Fonterra manufacturing site to reduce coal use in 2023. The biomass boiler will reduce the site’s annual emissions by at least 48,000 tonnes of CO2e, the equivalent of taking 20,000 cars off New Zealand’s roads.
Fonterra is in the process of converting the coal boilers at its Hautapu site to wood pellets. Once complete this year, the Hautapu site will reduce its carbon emissions by a forecast 15,785 tonnes per annum – the equivalent of taking about 6500 cars off New Zealand’s roads.
The Stirling wood biomass boiler now has fully renewable thermal energy for its process heat. Changing to this boiler will reduce the annual carbon emissions by 18,500 tonnes – the equivalent of taking approximately 7700 cars off New Zealand’s roads.
In 2020, the Te Awamutu manufacturing site converted its coal boiler to wood pellets, reducing the Co-op’s national coal consumption by 9 per cent, reducing more than 84,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year – the same as taking 32,000 cars off the road.
In 2018, the Brightwater site near Nelson switched to co-firing biomass, helping reduce CO2e emissions by 25 per cent, or the equivalent of taking 530 cars off the road.
Fonterra also released its climate roadmap last year – to learn more please click here.
