Tuesday, 04 October 2022 09:55

'Green battery' to power Fonterra

Written by  Mark Daniel
PolyJoule chief executive Eli Paster says he’s excited to partner with Fonterra. PolyJoule chief executive Eli Paster says he’s excited to partner with Fonterra.

Following a 10-month trial on its Te Rapa Smart Farm, Fonterra has given a big tick to a new organic, low-cost, safe, sustainable and long-life battery that could deliver greater energy security and distributed electricity generation for New Zealand.

Partnering with PolyJoule, a manufacturer under the umbrella of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the high tech battery is made from electrically conductive polymers, an organic based compound with the ability to act like metal.

Installed on the Te Rapa farm in August 2021, the battery was cycled daily, supporting dairy shed operations, using a variety of inputs and discharge rates, before being recently moved to the co-op's Waitoa UHT site, which can be impacted by power disturbances leading to downtime and waste.

Fonterra chief operating officer Fraser Whineray says, as a significant electricity user at about 2.5% of the national grid, a sustainable and secure electricity supply is vital to the co-operative's local sales and exports.

“At Fonterra we have a strategy to lead in sustainability, and innovation partnerships are a critical ingredient to achieving this. The PolyJoule battery has a remarkable discharge rate, which may ultimately link with ultra-fast charging our fleet, including Milk-E, our electric milk tanker,” says Whineray. He went on to note that the battery, the first commercially available in the world, will help will help buffer and stabilise the energy feed into the plant that typically deals with up to 4 million litres of milk daily, noting that even a short-term outage can result in a complete shutdown and a thorough cleaning regime, before the plant can be restarted.

PolyJoule chief executive Eli Paster says he’s excited to partner with Fonterra and sees great opportunity for growth in New Zealand, both in terms of supporting energy security and job creation in the manufacturing and technology sectors.

Paster explained that PolyJoule’s journey started as a search for a better battery, given the belief that storage of electricity was the future. With cost being the king, conductive polymer batteries were cheaper to produce than lithiumion examples, which also had issues with environmental impact given the amount of soil needed to be moved to “harvest” small amounts of lithium and the fact that the resource was also concentrated in only three countries. “Lithium is likely to be the new oil problem going forwards,” he says.

“Conductive polymer batteries are lower cost, have up to three times the life of lithium-ion, alongside offering a greater number of cycles, and need less maintenance. From a sustainability perspective they don’t need to be made in sterile manufacturing environments, where HVAC power consumption during manufacture can be up to 40% of the cost of a lithium-ion battery.

“Since PolyJoule batteries do not rely on lithium, nickel, or lead, the materials are easier to source and the batteries are safer and easier to manufacture anywhere in the world, including New Zealand.”

Whineray commented that PolyJoule was a great fit to the co-operatives existing moves to sustainability and decarbonisation, which at the Waitoa site included a biomass boiler and the recently announced Milk-E tanker. He also noted that of the company’s 30 operating sites, currently nine were coal-fired, dropping to six in the New Year.

“Currently we output around 800,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum – around 20% of that of Air New Zealand – so although we are in the early days, this new battery technology will help us lead the way in sustainability and be open and creative in an area that is likely to be a global solution in energy management.”

More like this

Fonterra posts solid results

Fonterra has delivered a solid half-year result, thanks to higher margins and sales volumes across the co-op's diversified product and category mix.

Featured

Sheep drench resistance costly

Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.

Dairy sheep and goat turmoil

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.

Hurry up and slow down!

OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.

National

Govt urged to reduce ETS units

The Climate Change Commission wants the new Government to reduce NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction volumes as son as…

Dairy sheep, goat woes mount

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand…

Machinery & Products

All-terrain fert spreading mode

Effluent specialists the Samson Group have developed a new double unloading system to help optimise uphill and downhill organic fertiliser…

Can-Am showcases range

Based on industry data collected by the Motor Industry Association, Can-Am is the number one side-by-side manufacturer in New Zealand.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Papal visit

OPINION: European farmers are going to extreme lengths to have their message heard.

Thai egg tarts

OPINION: The hustle and bustle of one of Bangkok's most popular fast food outlets may feel a world away from…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter