New Zealand's largest wood pellet fuel plant was opened on Friday by the Prime Minister, the Hon John Key. Built by Solid Energy business, Nature's Flame, the $34 million Taupo plant will initially produce up to 40,000 tonnes a year of the clean-burning, low-carbon fuel with a substantial proportion of its output exported.
The plant, in Taupo's Aratiatia industrial park, processes large volumes of pine wood residues from central North Island sawmillers and wood-product manufacturers. These are screened, ground, dried and compressed into wood pellets for bulk delivery in New Zealand and overseas.
The plant's first major shipment – 6,500 tonnes destined for European power plants – is now being assembled at the Port of Napier for loading. This first shipment is part of a three-year, $15 million contract with the European utility sector. Nature's Flame wood pellets are also being exported to Italy for the home-heating market and to Japan, for use by electricity generators and the horticulture sector to heat glasshouses.
Solid Energy Chief Executive Officer, Dr Don Elder, says commissioning of the Taupo plant confirms Solid Energy's position as the largest wood pellet producer in the Southern Hemisphere (based on actual production). The scale of its output lifts wood pellets into the mainstream of New Zealand energy options and signals the beginning of a new income stream for New Zealand exports.
(Source: http://www.woodweek.com/dsp_newsletter.cfm?id=74#5)
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