KEY POINTS:
A new Taranaki cogeneration project which officially opens today will use waste gas to generate enough electricity and hot water for 2000 households annually.
The project, sited at Todd Energy's McKee plant near Tikorangi in north Taranaki, uses gas sourced from a waste stream that was previously flared into the atmosphere. The company expects a separate project using gas from its Mangahewa Field will generate enough electricity to power a further 9000 homes by December.
"With the power crisis threatening the stability of New Zealand's energy supply, this project is an excellent example of how cogeneration technology maximises plant efficiency, using waste gas to deliver electricity to the national grid and hot water for use at the plant," said managing director Richard Tweedie.
"This project also illustrates the type of thermal generation that is clearly in the national interest and should be encouraged by Government policy, but unfortunately this is not the case."
Tweedie said the company had always sought to develop cogeneration projects, but was hesitant given the Government's intention to ban thermal generation in excess of 10MW for 10 years.
The two cogeneration units at McKee are driven by internal combustion engines designed specifically to run on waste gas - an unavoidable by-product of processing natural gas to pipeline specification sales quality.
The 2MW of electricity generated is exported to the local grid.
Exhaust heat from the generation units is recovered to pre-heat water for the plant's system - the hot water is a vital component in processing the plant's crude due to its waxy nature.
The hot water produced is equivalent to providing energy to another 2000 households annually.
A separate project will see a further three cogeneration units operational by December, generating an additional 9MW of electricity.
The project has received carbon credits from the Government in recognition of the greenhouse gas emissions reductions achieved, relative to generation of the same amount of electricity from a less efficient thermal process, said the company.
Wholly New Zealand-owned, Todd is the country's largest generator of electricity from efficient gas-fired cogeneration facilities, including Whareroa, Edgecumbe, Kapuni and Southern Landfill in Wellington.
