Te Rapa cogeneration
The Te Rapa cogeneration plant is a 45 MW cogeneration plant owned and operated by Contact Energy. It is located at the Fonterra dairy factory at Te Rapa near Hamilton in New Zealand and was commissioned in 1999. The plant is based on a gas turbine (a GE frame 6B) that can produce up to 45 MW of electricity. Hot exhaust gases from the turbine are ducted to a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) to raise steam. The HRSG has duct burners to increase steam output, which can be up to 180 tons of steam per hour . The cogeneration plant is designed for flexible operation, and can provide electricity to the dairy factory, export electricity to the local network or import electricity for use in the dairy factory. A common operating mode is 30 MW of electricity exported and 15 MW plus 120 tons per hour of steam provided to the dairy factory.