AWARDS FINALIST: Fonterra PolyJoule battery-UPS

Fonterra is a significant electricity user at about 2.5 per cent of the national grid, and relies on a sustainable and secure electricity supply. Energy storage will be essential in supporting its increased electrification.

The co-operative relies on a sustainable and secure electricity supply and energy storage will be essential in supporting its increased electrification.

Fonterra says unexpected power quality events at its Waitoa UHT plant caused the loss of aseptic status, with the subsequent shutdowns resulting in lost production and additional costs.

Fonterra partnered with PolyJoule, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-off and energy storage company, to develop a solution to reduce power quality event triggers - of about 1 second or less - by 70 per cent for several of the UHT lines at Waitoa.

The solution – an uninterruptible power supply, or UPS, combined with an innovative 500 kW 10 kWh PolyJoule power cell battery energy storage system – aimed to increase efficiency and reduce the environmental footprint of the Waitoa plant by reducing the impact of power quality events.

It also provided an opportunity to evaluate the performance of the PolyJoule BESS as a solution for future sustainability projects, as well as to support Fonterra's commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Battery

PolyJoule created an ultra-safe, sustainable, long-life, and low-cost battery with none of the major drawbacks of lithium-ion batteries. Its extreme power density makes it ideal for power quality applications without compromising safety and long-term sustainability goals.

Its novelty is in its unique battery chemistry. PolyJoule is made from electrically conductive polymers, an organic-based compound that is not a metal but can act like one.

It does not include any rare earth elements, but instead is manufactured from abundantly available raw materials with the active material being fully recyclable. This has the added benefit that the battery can be manufactured anywhere in the world, including in New Zealand.

World first

The industrial-scale organic battery arrived at Fonterra’s Te Rapa farm just before New Zealand moved back into Alert Level 4 lockdown on 17 August 2021. The restrictions saw PolyJoule and Fonterra install and commission it remotely without any PolyJoule personnel onsite – no small feat considering the battery is the first industrial installation of its kind.

As part of the wider implementation strategy the performance of the battery was first tested on-farm, where it was cycled daily over 10 months to support dairy shed operations. In August 2022, the battery was moved to Waitoa to test its ability to deliver a large amount of power – 500 kW -quicker than most other battery systems, in a commercial manufacturing setting.

The battery was modified and incorporated into the UHT plant. It demonstrated its ability to reduce downtime during a 6.2 magnitude earthquake as well as being activated during Cyclone Gabrielle.

Performance

The battery has been operating without problem since commissioning. It has exceeded expectations and is able to deliver 500 kW of power for 60 seconds.

Fonterra is continuing to look for ways to expand the number of systems protected by the PolyJoule system, as well as identifying other potential use cases within the company where a PolyJoule BESS would provide benefits. It expects the system could help eliminate power quality issues at several of its manufacturing sites.

The Large Energy User Initiative of the Year category is sponsored by EECA