Taupo Wood Processor Wins At NZ Engineering Awards

Taupo Wood Processor Wins at New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards

A Taupo-based wood processing facility took out the Sustainability & Clean Technology category at the New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards last night.

Tenon Ltd’s Taupo wood processing facility had previously burned up to 500 terajoules of natural gas per annum to provide heat for its nine wood-drying kilns.

In partnership with Tenon, Contact Energy Ltd designed and constructed a heat plant that takes a mix of geothermal steam and water to three heat exchangers at the Tenon site. The geothermal heat is then used as the sole heat source for the kilns. After use, all geothermal fluid from the heat exchangers is re-injected back into the geothermal reservoir.

“While the technology employed by this project is not new or unique, the project demonstrated a sound grasp and appropriate use of the technology”, said David Elms DistFIPENZ, Convenor of the Category Awards judging panel.

By using a truly renewable fuel source, Tenon no longer needs to burn non-renewable fuels. This reduces the company’s energy costs and prevents the release of about 24,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year. Mr Elms said that an increase in plant capacity was also achieved making the project a worthy winner.

The third New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for New Zealand engineering professionals. The awards are presented in two major areas: Individual Awards, that recognise leadership, entrepreneurship, and our young engineers; and Category Awards, that recognise achievement in the various industry areas, together with a Supreme Award for the best of the Category winners.

The New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are hosted by a consortium of five partners and 10 contributing organisations. The partners are: Centre for Advanced Engineering (CAE); Association of Local Government Engineering New Zealand Incorporated (INGENIUM); Electricity Engineers Association of New Zealand (EEA); Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand (ACENZ); and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand Inc (IPENZ).

ENDS