Site Visits and Guest Speaker Evenings Keep Engenerate Busy

Engenerate members have been getting out and about, visiting sites from power plants to soft drink factories.

Stratford Peaker Power Plant site visit - Engenerate Taranaki

Twenty-two young engineers from Taranaki Engenerate visited the new gas turbine powered power plant owned by Contact Energy. The plant is capable of producing 200MW of power at short notice during periods of high grid demand. As a recent piece of engineering in Taranaki there was a lot of interest in this visit.

Coca-Cola site visit - Engenerate Canterbury

Engenerate Canterbury kicked off 2012 with a tour of Coca Cola's recently refurbished Christchurch blow fill bottle manufacturing plant. Opened in January 2012 after a $15 million investment, the plant marked one of the biggest capital investments in Christchurch since the 2010/2011 earthquakes. The tour was led by Leon Swanepoel, the plant Production Manager, who guided the group around the production, labelling, packaging, quality control and lean manufacturing at the facility. On display were stacks of soft drinks, catering for 75 per cent of the South Island's Coke brand beverage supply.

Guest Speaker Evening: the Rena Grounding - Engenerate Tauranga

John Morris from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council spoke about the grounding of the container ship, the Rena. The ship grounded on 5 October 2011 and started leaking oil and loosing containers shortly after. Mr Morris discussed the process that took place following the grounding, including his personal involvement with the clean up. It was a great opportunity to hear what actually happened from someone who was involved from the beginning.

Positive Power: Sustainable Living in Action - Northland and Auckland Engenerate

Engenerate Northland and Auckland were hosted by Eric Jansseune, founder of Repower New Zealand, at his home in Kaiwaka. Mr Jansseune gave an informative and interactive presentation on solar water heating, photovoltaic cells and efficient living, demonstrated by his self-powered home.

Updated May 2012