Plant switches to ‘electric milk’

Fonterra’s Stirling dairy processing operation in south Otago will be the first plant in New Zealand to change from coal to electricity.

Fonterra announced yesterday that it will change its 10 coal-fired plants throughout the country from coal to renewable energy and that the Stirling factory near Balclutha would be used as the prototype.

Site manager Dwayne Smith said he was delighted that the Stirling cheese factory would be the first to utilise ‘‘electric milk’’ in the changing technology.

Cheese requires hot water and steam for production.

‘‘The operation will be no different, we’ll just be using a different energy source and we won’t be burning fossil fuel.’’

Key staff and two National Party members Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker and visiting Rodney MP Mark Mitchell gathered at the plant for the announcement.

The team was ‘‘stoked’’ that in the future it would not be stoking boilers with coal, he said.

He expected the transition would take between three and five years and that Stirling had been selected because it was small and already committed to producing a sustainable product.

It would now proceed with a a feasibility sturdy to determine the options for electrification of the plant, which employs 110 people.

In a statement, Fonterra said with no gas or feasible alternatives available in the South Island, Fonterra has used coal in its plants to ensure it can process its highly perishable milk.

The company has 30 plants, with three in the North Island coal-powered and seven in the South Island.

With the shift toward renewable energy, Fonterra has also surrendered its Mangatangi coal (northern Waikato) mining permit, divested nearly 50 per cent of land acquired for coal mining and will no longer mine coal.

The new moves are part of the pathway Fonterra mapped out with the Government last year to achieve net zero emissions across its manufacturing sites by 2050.

This would reduce the company’s coal use by more than 9700 tonnes per year – about the same weight as 122 Boeing 737-800 aeroplanes.

Fonterra global operations chief officer Robert Spurway said the targets were ambitious but necessary because of climate change.

However, getting the right information and finding the best technology to make the transition at sites without disrupting farmers and production would be walking ‘‘a logistical tightrope’’.

‘‘With 30 manufacturing sites across the country the challenge ahead of us is clear but we understand the importance of getting on with it to help the country meet its international [climate change] obligations.’’

‘‘The operation will be no different, we’ll just be using a different energy source and we won’t be burning fossil fuel.’’ Fonterra’s Stirling site manager Dwayne Smith