Orion connects Synlait milk processing plant

7 August 2008 

Electricity network company Orion is meeting a growing demand for electricity in the rural Canterbury dairying sector by continuing investment in its rural network – including connecting power to Synlait, New Zealand’s newest milk processing plant which began production this week.

Synlait has built a $100m plant at Dunsandel, and the company estimates it will produce $150m worth of high-specification milk powder, mainly for export to Asia, in the next 12 months.

The Synlait factory is Orion’s largest single customer, and Orion is proud to be associated with a company which is converting raw milk into high-value products and creating huge economic benefits and job opportunities for the central Canterbury region.

“Synlait will bring a significant economic boost to the region, and the company is making a smart investment in the local community in terms of using local suppliers and providing jobs in the area,” said Orion CEO Roger Sutton.

“At Orion we are committed to serving our community well and, like Synlait, we’re working in smarter, more innovative ways to do this. We fully support Synlait as they continue to grow and contribute to their local community and the rural Canterbury economy,” Mr Sutton said.

Synlait chief executive officer Dr John Penno says reliability and security of electricity supply is crucial to the company’s operations.

“Orion rose to the challenge of meeting our complex electricity supply requirements and we appreciated their efficiency and dedication to get the job done,” Dr Penno says.

Synlait is the largest evidence of dairy farming growth in the Orion electricity network area, which covers from the Waimakariri to the Rakaia rivers and from the Canterbury coast to Arthur’s Pass.

Many of Orion’s rural customers have switched from sheep and crop farming to dairying, resulting in a dramatic increase in electricity demand across the company’s rural network. Peak demand in central Canterbury rural areas has more than doubled in the past 10 years, and about 75% of this growth can be directly attributed to new irrigation.

In order to meet this growing demand, Orion is investing heavily in its rural network. The value of the network’s rural assets has increased by about $70m in the past 10 years, and over the next 10 years that value is expected to increase by a further $50m.

To connect the Synlait processing plant, Orion recently built a new district substation at Dunsandel and undertook rural network reinforcements to improve security and reliability of supply. It also developed and installed an innovative fast changeover scheme for the plant, so that if the plant loses normal power supply for any reason, the switch to an alternative supply will take just half a second.

“Orion pushed the technological boundaries to provide this solution for Synlait,” Mr Sutton said. “Large dairying operations are highly reliant on electronic technology which is sensitive to variations in electricity quality – this presents plenty of challenges for us and means we have to work smarter to provide a better service to the rural community,” he added.

For more information, please contact:

Roger Sutton
Chief Executive Officer
03 363 9846 or 027 433 3632