New Zealand: Geothermal Power Plant to Supply Heat for Wood Pellet Production

Contact Energy and Nature’s Flame reducing carbon emissions (News Release)

The Nature’s Flame plant in Taupo.

Contact Energy and Nature’s Flame have signed an agreement and broken ground to build a geothermal energy supply system that will provide process heat to Nature’s Flame’s wood pellet manufacturing plant in Taupō.

Nature’s Flame produces a carbon neutral wood pellet fuel alternative to coal. Wood fibre in the form or sawdust and shavings is obtained from sawmill operations in the central North Island; the fibre is dried, resized and then compacted to form a durable, low moisture, low ash, energy dense fuel which burns efficiently and cleanly.

“Contact will provide direct heat energy from our geothermal facilities to the Nature’s Flame plant which will be used to dry the wood fibre. The majority of the energy used to dry the wood will be derived from “used” geothermal fluid downstream of the Tenon Sawmill, which Contact has been providing with geothermal energy since 2007. This will optimise the efficiency of the production well for both companies,” says James Kilty, Chief Generation and Development Officer at Contact Energy.

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