Australasia's First Boilerless Bakery

Energy NZ has been a provider of energy management services to Goodman Fielder over the past decade.

In this role it became aware of the company’s keen interest in the use of oven waste heat to meet the requirement of proofer ovens for heat and humidity. This would result in a boilerless bakery and the corresponding notable reduction in energy, maintenance, compliance and water treatment costs.

As this concept had already been unsuccessfully trialled at an Australian bakery, Energy NZ’s initial challenge was to convince Goodman Fielder of the project’s viability.

“We succeeded in doing so by expertly detailing why the Australian project had failed versus the positive signs that underpinned the Hawke’s Bay project - all backed by robust and rational engineering data,” exclaims Energy NZ director Andy Logue. “A single supplier with a performance guarantee also played a critical role in convincing Goodman Fielder executives that the project was feasible.

“Once the project received the green light the second challenge was getting the system commissioned – which took much longer than initially anticipated – and operational.”

Logue elaborates that the project, which at the outset appeared relatively easy and straightforward, soon proved otherwise. “This was because a large number of variables were at play across a number of systems and changes on one system invariably had knock-on effects on other systems.”

Goodman Fielder persevered and on April 5, 2016, Quality Bakers Hawkes Bay became the first boilerless industrial bakery in Australasia.

Soon thereafter it faced its biggest challenge in the form of winter, without incident.

The project alone resulted in a 20% reduction in the site’s overall energy consumption in conjunction with maintenance, compliance and water treatment savings.