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Japanese food company investing in geothermal dairy processing plant in New Zealand

Japanese food company investing in geothermal dairy processing plant in New Zealand Cows in New Zealand landscape (source: flickr/ Dennis Yang, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 7 Feb 2018

Japanese food company and Maori groups are investing up to $24 million in a new dairy processing plant producing dried milk products utilising geothermal energy.

Geothermal energy plays an important role in the Bay of Plenty region on the North Island in New Zealand. Just today we reported on a new business development role that looks into how to attract further businesses utilising geothermal energy resources in the region.

Last year, we have already reported on a unique dairy processing plant that creates milk powder from milk produced locally utilising geothermal steam.

Now it is reported that a group of Maori entities has partnered with Japanese food company Imanaka to develop a milk processing plant ot make high-value niche products in Kawerau.

This follows the model of the Miraka milk company in Taupo, that utilises power and heat from Maori geothermal assets and milk supplied from Maori farms locally.

The new plant with an expected NZ$32 million (US$23 million) investment, expects to produce more than 8,000 metric tonnes of dried milk products.

Source: Scoop.co.nz