Wind power salt works

It cost $1.6 million, but a large wind turbine at Marlborough’s saltworks is paying for itself, as well as helping the environment, the business says.

Dominion Salt is up for an award for using wind energy to help run its operation - and the company is embarking on other initiatives to make it even more eco-friendly.

Site operations manager Euan McLeish says half of the power for the saltworks is generated by a massive wind turbine powered by a 660-kilowatt generator, installed at the plant in 2014.

This is the first time the company has entered the Cawthron Marlborough Environment Awards, and Euan says he is excited to be competing alongside environmentally friendly businesses.

While the investment in the plant, including installing the turbine, was $1.6m, it slashed the company’s power bill by half.

The turbine, sourced secondhand from Sweden, was ‘‘definitely’’ working out well, Euan says.

The 1416-hectare site at Lake Grassmere, 40km south of Blenheim, has 46 ponds, including 22 crystallising ponds, and produces an average of about 65,000 tonnes a year.

Dominion Salt has also been recycling polypropylene bags and cardboard packaging for about a year, Euan says.

‘‘How many [bags] there are I don’t know, but we are talking tens of thousands, definitely.

‘‘There is something else we are doing and that’s speaking with other businesses in Blenheim and finding out who’s got wooden pallets that they don’t need.’’

Euan says Dominion Salt is looking at expanding its interest in recycling and using them for one-off deliveries.

- Elena McPhee

PHOTO: SCOTT HAMMOND/FAIRFAX NZ Site operations manager Euan McLeish at Dominion Salt, which is partially powered by a $1.6m wind turbine.