Originally Posted by
Mrbuyit
There was an interesting point a few pages back with regards to mataura valley milk, and the govt expectations of phasing out coal as an energy source in the coming years.
When drying milk concentrate energy costs (electricity and coal /gas etc) are normally the largest costs after the purchase of the raw product, and staff costs. Depending on how much 'fat' is in your business..
A coal to biomass fuel conversion, not only has a one off cost associated with changes required for the burner arrangement and dust management, but currently is significantly more expensive to operate.. A coal boiler might cost ~4m /year you would be up to 11-12m /year for no actual reduction in CO exiting the boiler stack...
This is probably more of an issue for fonterra with a reliance on coal fired boilers dotted around the countryside, but also a of consideration is do we actually have capacity to make enough wood pellets / chips in consistent supply in the right parts of the country (200t /day per boiler) once demand starts to shoot up?