Unused wood from Northland’s forestry industry could fuel a major new industry turning it into commercial biofuel and provide almost all of the region’s manufacturing sector energy needs.
Unused wood from Northland’s forestry industry could fuel a major new industry turning it into commercial biofuel and provide almost all of the region’s manufacturing sector energy needs.
Unused wood from Northland’s forests could provide 99 per cent of the energy needed for the region’s manufacturing sector.
A new study, by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), shows the significant role currently unutilised forestry residues could play – as the region reduces its reliance on fossil fuels in favour of renewable energy.
The Northland Regional Energy Transition Accelerator (RETA) report says up to 99 per cent of Northland’s energy needed for heat used in manufacturing have the potential to be met by locally sourced biomass - wood fuel made from forestry residue.
The RETA report provides insight and recommendations that will help streamline technology and infrastructure investments, for local businesses and energy suppliers, and cut carbon at the same time.
“Forestry owners and biomass suppliers in Northland can expect significant demand for wood residues locally as the region looks toward new, lower-emissions energy solutions for industrial processing,” EECA group manager business Nicki Sutherland said.
“On the energy user side, the tech we need – like biomass boilers that use wood residues for fuel – has been proven and available for a number of years now. When you combine this with the fact there is a lot of unutilised wood residue in the region’s forest that is not being exported – it is clear there is significant commercial opportunity for wood processors.”
Sutherland said the region also has a relatively high amount of spare electrical capacity to accommodate higher anticipated demand from fuel-switching projects.
“Because of this capacity, capital connection costs are relatively low,” she said.
EECA group manager business Nicki Sutherland said up to 99 per cent of the power needed for Northland’s manufacturing sector could come from unused wood waste.
A total of 18 sites spanning the dairy, industrial and commercial sectors are covered by the Northland RETA, including five in the Far North. These sites either have process heat equipment larger than 500kW or are sites for which EECA has detailed information about their decarbonisation pathway. Collectively, these sites consume 4471 terajoules (TJ) of process heat energy, primarily from coal, and currently produce 262,000 tonnes per year of CO2e emissions, with the majority - 147,000 tonnes - from burning coal. RETA aims to eliminate as much of these process heat emissions as possible.
The sites are: Golden Bay Cement, Whangārei; Fonterra, Kauri; Fonterra, Maungaturoto; Juken Nissho, Kaitāia; Northland Regional Corrections Facility; Imerys Ceramics, Matauri Bay; Whangārei Hospital; Northland Polytechnic. Whangārei; Whangārei Aquatic Centre; Downers Whangārei Asphalt Plant; Maunu Cemetery; Kerikeri Crematorium; Whangārei Girls High School; Otamatea High School; Whangārei Boys’ High School; Bream Bay College and Bay of Islands College.
Sutherland said the focus of the Northland report – the culmination of phase one of the RETA programme - is the fuel switching decision and the key role demand reduction plays in enabling fuel switching. Both biomass and electricity are considered as potential fuel sources.
She said RETA also recognises the importance of demand reduction and thermal efficiency measures for reducing energy consumption and right sizing the boiler investment, which in turn affects decision-making around fuel switching.
Head of investment and infrastructure at Northland Inc, Vaughan Cooper, said the RETA gives the local energy users and suppliers confidence to move forward and find opportunities to work together.
“It can be a bit daunting trying to work out where to start with your approach to clean energy use, renewable choices and carbon implications and how these can be built into your business operations,” Cooper said.
“It highlights opportunities to create greater resilience amongst some of Northland’s key sectors, such as forestry, through identifying areas for potential diversification. We look forward to continuing to implement the opportunities identified in this report in partnership with EECA and our business community.”
Head of investment and infrastructure at Northland Inc, Vaughan Cooper, said the RETA gives the local energy users and suppliers confidence to move forward.
Northland regional manager for CFG Forest Managers and member of the Northland Wood Council, Matt Pedersen, said the RETA process was valuable to the sector as it brought key industry people into the same room to discuss a range of issues.
“Forestry needs an economically viable outlet for the fibre that will be used in new or existing biofuel systems. It is good to understand the constraints different industries face and not to feel specific issues are ignored,” Pedersen said.
“Scale will be the largest driver of the viability of new projects and any processor of any scale can retro fit this tech into their systems and utilise fully their own outputs or sell into the wider market. This will require broad pan-industry planning to ensure growth is sustainable and not cut short due to unforeseen constraints.”
The report illustrates a range of decarbonisation pathways, all of which demonstrate how the combined decisions of a range of process heat users may lead to common infrastructure challenges and opportunities from a supply perspective. Across the 18 sites, there are 31 individual projects across demand reduction, heat pumps and fuel switching. The ‘MAC Optimal’ pathway sees fuel decisions that result in 1 per cent of the energy needs supplied by electricity and 99 per cent supplied by biomass in 2037.
She said energy efficiency and demand reduction are key parts of the process – which can lead to significant costs and energy savings and make fuel switching cheaper and easier in the long term.
Sutherland said programmes like RETA help with an increasing expectation domestically and within export markets for lower-carbon products and services.
“There are some very promising projects already under way in the region. Using information from our RETA programme, businesses can prepare for the future, understanding the process heat energy and carbon saving opportunities that are in the pipeline both now and beyond 2030.”
