A new electric boiler at Mataura Valley Milk is now fully operational, completing the plant’s conversion from a coal-fired manufacturing process to an electric one. It’ll eliminate about 22,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions annually and establish Mataura Valley Milk as the first all-electric dairy factory in New Zealand.
The General Manager of Mataura Valley Milk, Paddy Mc Myler, says the project is about much more than installing a new boiler.
“The opportunity to be an early adopter and use this technology to remove fossil fuels from our site was compelling. It takes an ambitious company with a proactive approach to sustainability to adopt such a technology in the early phases.”
Electrification also means the plant operates cleaner and free from coal dust, ash, and combustion.
Meridian has signed an electricity supply agreement to support the project and worked with Mataura Valley Milk throughout the project.
Meridian Chief Customer Officer Lisa Hannifin says it’s an outstanding example of how a single customer can deliver benefits for the entire community.
“Whether you’re an individual, a business or an industrial user, we can all help reduce emissions and decarbonise New Zealand. We’re really proud to help Mataura Valley Milk switch energy sources. Energy contributes around 40% of New Zealand’s total gross emissions and process heat makes up a third of all energy use. So, this change doesn’t just benefit Mataura Valley Milk – it benefits all of us.”
We've supported recent boiler conversions by Open Country Dairy and Fonterra and have a number of other deals at memoranda of understanding. In 2021 we set a goal of enabling 600GW hours of process heat conversions by 2025 - already, we're already set to achieve almost 900GW hours by then!
