Electrification: Southland companies 'roll up sleeves'
There’s real examples of leadership and innovation in Southland when it comes to reducing fossil fuel use and that should be celebrated.
I’ll be honest, when the invite landed in my inbox, I moved on to whatever else I was doing at relative speed.
PowerNet had invited me to a function where its representatives were to present “business decarbonisation and electrification information” to its local commercial customers.
Not the sexy sort of story that might have been etched it in the diary as a ‘must do’. Embarrassing to admit that now.
When a follow up call come to check if I was going to attend, I thought maybe I should. I’m pleased I did.
What I discovered is Southland’s work in the decarbonisation space deserves celebrating.
There’s examples of real leadership and innovation in Southland when it comes to reducing fossil fuel use.
The HWR Group’s work to decarbonise its trucking fleet is one example that’s worth highlighting.
HWR is a large family-owned Invercargill-based national transport company, among other things.
It has looked at various solutions and is now working towards introducing hydrogen-powered trucks.
Gareth Wishart, HWR’s group general manager for innovation, says they’ve settled on a project that is going to cost around $15 million and includes converting 10 heavy trucks into dual fuel.
An issue at the moment is there is not a supply of hydrogen in Southland.
So HWR is trialling an electrolyser out the back of its Allied Petroleum station at Gore.
The electrolyser is going to consume about 5000 litres of water a day and will make about 450kg of hydrogen.
There’s no transport of fuel needed.
“There is water coming from a tap. It’s a garden tap into a 40-foot container and there is about a megawatt of power going into that container to make that 450kg [of hydrogen],” Wishart says.
“We do pride ourselves on just getting it done.”
The first truck will be at the George Begg Festival at Teretonga Park this month. It’s a Dynes Transport Truck, one of HWR’s joint venture partners.
“It will be a curtain-sider with 25kgs of hydrogen on board.”
“Nine more of these trucks will come on the road with differing assets across our group to prove the technology. The learnings and data will help us determine where we go next,” Wishart says.
Mataura Valley Milk is another that is well-advanced with its decarbonisation project. It’s getting rid of its coal-fuelled boiler and plans to have its site fully electrified by November this year.
Mataura Valley Milk is a small dairy company on the outskirts of Gore that employs about 115 people with a turnover of about $160m and has 45 farmers that supply it.
Its major shareholder is A2.
Mataura Valley Milk has a coal boiler that it only commissioned six years ago at a cost of about $50m.
It produces about 22 tones of Co2 but by electrifying the site it will decrease about 60 tonnes of carbon.
Mataura Valley Milk chief executive Bernard May says the financials attached to transforming to electric were initially “quite ugly”, but adds it is essential for the A2 brand to do something about that coal-fired boiler.
It’s the first time a high-pressure electro-boiler has been commissioned in New Zealand, he says.
“When we built the first coal boiler at [Mataura Valley Milk] this wasn’t an option, it wasn’t even on the radar.”
They also have a $250,000 annual fund to help its farmers transition to being more sustainable on the farm.
“In the Southland region, it’s probably the region where we’ve rolled up our sleeves and actually got on with it. Significant investments right across agriculture, right across a lot of supply chains.
“It’s exciting, particularly for me in Southland, to see this investment and this change,” May says.
“This story, if we can build on it and articulate it well, is actually a great branding story for the Southland region. We have the natural wonders to be able to support that through the hydro, wind farms, it’s a really exciting time.”
PowerNet chief executive Jason Franklin told those commercial customers in attendance that decarbonisation work should be viewed as a real opportunity.
“The electrification of the Southland economy is going to be significant.”
He pointed out there is a $650m Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund (GIDI) available and he wanted Southland to get its hands of as much as that as it could.
“We are here to help; we want to enable this. We’ve got industry stakeholders willing to do the same.
“It’s probably the most coordinated the industry has been in a long time for this…. We really need to do the best for our region and get in and get as much as of that [GIDI funding] and start this transition as soon as possible.”
Energy Efficiency and Conservation [EECA] representative Nicky Sutherland suggests Southland is set up well to tap into that funding.
“I just want to say how great it is to be in a room full of people who are exploring or are committed to decarbonisation. In Southland, you have some real advantages.
“You are just so well set up to do it the best it’s going to be done in New Zealand. We’ve got great leadership through Great South who has kicked off the decarbonisation journey well.
“You’ve got a committed EDB through PowerNet, they are industry standard in terms of what they can be doing to make life easy for people who want to electrify.
“Of course, the Southland people are well known for being innovative, being at the forefront of things. There’s real leadership and a real sense of community.”