A biomass plant, which aims to reduce on-farm emissions by 98%, has been officially opened at Nelson growing operation, JS Ewers.
The event was attended by several stakeholders, including local Nelson MP Rachel Boyack, representatives from the Tasman District Council, suppliers, customers, and other local people with close links to the business.
The new boiler, which runs on a wood residue sourced from local forests, is to generate all the heating required for 12 hectares of glasshouse, which grows tomatoes, capsicums, and eggplant, eliminating the need for burning coal.
The JS Ewers biomass energy centre
The project was supported with industrial co-funding from EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority). The process took nearly five years. It was a staged approach, including an earlier project to establish a large ring-main system, which is a network of large pipes carrying hot water throughout the site, along with a buffer tank used to store two million liters of water. There was also the physical construction of the large boiler shed, the fuel storage and handling system, as well as the connection to the existing plant.
"Our decarbonization strategy saw us adopt a number of initiatives over the past seven years, with the completion of the biomass boiler the largest and most complex part of the plan," said JS Ewers GM Pierre Gargiulo.
Pierre Gargiulo is speaking at the opening of the JS Ewers biomass energy center.
He elaborates: "Feedback from EECA acknowledged the significant steps and investment made by our company. The long-term sustainability strategy was a key factor in securing a portion of co-funding for the remaining projects. Like all businesses looking to transition to greener energy, investment needs to be balanced as there are always competing priorities."
"The EECA partnership has spanned the introduction of thermal screens in 2018, an Energy Transition Accelerator program in 2020 that helped map a decarbonization plan and provided the best pathway, the conversion of the smaller boilers to wood pellet and the eventual installation of the large biomass boiler," he adds.
The JS Ewers biomass energy centre
MG Group CEO Peter Hendry says: "JS Ewers is a wholly owned subsidiary of Market Gardeners Limited, trading as the MG Group. "It was a significant step towards the cooperative's sustainability ambitions. The MG Group has committed to making sustainability a strategic priority for the cooperative," Across the MG Group, we're looking to continually improve all of our businesses and make sure our operations are as efficient and sustainable as possible."
He explains: "In recent years our market business has invested heavily in moving to more environmentally friendly refrigeration systems and in a large solar project, however, the completion of the biomass boiler at JS Ewers is the single most significant project for the MG Group, removing approximately 27,000 tonnes of emissions annually."
"When you add together the emissions reductions from all projects completed across the JS Ewers site, there's a 98% reduction in on-farm CO2 emissions. This project is not only a positive step forward for JS Ewers but for the industry more generally. A pleasing part of the project has been sharing our journey and learnings with other growers and hosting the likes of Tomatoes NZ and other interested growers on-site, he concludes."
For more information:
JS Ewers
Tel.: 64 3 544 6901
info@jsewers.co.nz
www.jsewers.co.nz
MG Group
Tel.: + 64 3 343 0430
info@mggroup.co.nz
www.mggroup.co.nz