The plant promises to bring more than 50 new jobs to Kawerau while helping decarbonise New Zealand\u2019s energy supply.<\/p>\n
Foresta is in negotiations with Genesis Energy to supply pellets for electricity generation at Huntly Power Station and hopes to eventually replace all of the energy company\u2019s coal with torrefied wood pellets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are hoping to kick off works in October,\u201d Foresta head of project development and delivery Alex Johnson said.<\/p>\n
The company announced in April last year that it had signed a 30-year lease with a 20-year right of renewal on 9.6 hectares of land in the Putauaki Trust Industrial Zone to build its $300 million plant.<\/p>\n
The Foresta plant would use the entire tree, including the currently underutilised stumps and tops of the trees.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hoped this would mitigate the issue of slash left behind by the forestry industry after harvesting.<\/p>\n
\u201cForesta announced that funding, project planning, and contracts for supply and production are all well under way which, thanks to environmentally sustainable production processes, is great news for Kawerau and Aotearoa New Zealand,\u201d Tunui said.<\/p>\n
She acknowledged Putauaki Trust for working to secure this significant \u201canchor tenant\u201d operation in Kawerau on their industrial park, which is already home to Wai\u016b Dairy, another value-added manufacturing operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cEconomic growth relies on communities, iwi and council collaborating for the benefit of our shared future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe development of the industrial park by Putauaki Trust unlocks huge potential for current and future generations. These new businesses offer new jobs and incomes that can help people raise their families here in Kawerau.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kawerau was just the pilot project for Foresta in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
The management team said replacing all the coal used in New Zealand would require them to produce 200 tonnes of pellets. <\/p>\n
To do that, they would require 11 plants like the one they plan to build in Kawerau.<\/p>\n
Executive director Maurice Fabiani said the project was going to plan and the board was fully committed to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve gone beyond the point of no return as far as the company is concerned. All told, there is probably getting close to $30 million that we have invested in this project to get it where we are today.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a long-term vision, and I think it will be wonderful for the community, for the region, and for New Zealand as a whole. At the end of the day, it is going to help decarbonise the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson said consent had been granted in March through the Government\u2019s Fast Track Approvals Act, and as part of the conditions of the consent, work must take place between September and the end of April.<\/p>\n
Further consenting would be required if work overflowed into May. <\/p>\n
It was close to finalising contract negotiations with its main contractor, and with Putauaki Trust around enabling works for the site.<\/p>\n
Full funding for the project was yet to be secured, but executive chairman Henry Chang said they were hoping to make some public announcements toward the end of September.<\/p>\n
Tunui said it was important to think about the footprints that were left behind.<\/p>\n
She said 71 years ago, when industries were being developed in Kawerau, it had been about making money at any cost to the environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur land continues to suffer, and our awa suffered. I am still, in 2025, recognised as the mayor of the town with the black drain.<\/p>\n
\u201cShifting into decarbonisation is the polar opposite of what used to happen here in Kawerau.\u201d<\/p>\n
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The plant promises to bring more than 50 new jobs to Kawerau while helping decarbonise New Zealand\u2019s energy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4882,4886,138,4888,2082,4881,111,139,69,4884,4885,4887,4889,1551,61,4883],"class_list":["post-3369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-300m","tag-aims","tag-business","tag-coal","tag-for","tag-kawerau","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pellet","tag-plant","tag-reduce","tag-reliance","tag-set","tag-to","tag-wood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}