Binwood waiting to be chipped for biofuel. At this typical wood lot southern skid site residue scene, one year on, there is no sign of this bin residue wood/slash being carted away for processing.

Forestry was the only Climate Change initiative that was working and demonstrably on track to achieve its targets, now stopped in its tracks," said past President of the New Zealand Forest Owners Association, Grant Dodson, in June 2023.

He was referring to the collective and combined actions of governments of the time affecting investment, and changes to the ETS.

And the current situation is not good. If the negative mainstream media is to be believed, the forestry industry appears to have gone into hibernation.

Scott Downs' PF Olsen's monthly log price index indicates static export and domestic  price movements. And this quarter includes Chinese New Year when business there virtually comes to a halt.

A headline in our local daily paper has Genesis Energy  seeking more coal supplies to bolster predicted low hydro lake levels this winter. And the Dunedin City Council  has given up any hope of attaining carbon zero by 2030, or 2050.  

Then there is the regular moan from pastoral farmers and some conservationists of hill country being planted in exotic pine plantations. Some on a permanent basis as "carbon forests" – if not already taken over by wilding conifers or replacing native vegetation.

And, to top everything off, the world's top climatologists are predicting next year may be the tipping point for global warming. 2024 has been cited as the warmest year on record, and we are predicted to surpass that next year. Which all means that if nothing is done to mitigate the situation, our grandkids could inherit a virtually unliveable planet with extreme temperature variations, melting ice caps, raised sea levels, persistent droughts and floods followed by mass migration. 

Headlines aside, contractors are still working and log trucks still rumble down our main highways to the nation's ports. And hey, some positive new arrived across this desk set to cut Climate Change and enhance energy production!

Backing black pellets

Genesis Energy is getting serious about using torrefied wood pellets for its Huntly Power Station boilers, capable of over 230 megawatts each. Two are geared to take biomass fuels so far.

The company has signed a “term sheet" with Australia's Foresta Group which has been fast-tracked to establish a wood chemical extraction plant at Kawerau for the production of torrefied wood pellets.

This primarily replaces coal as the main source of emergency supply for electricity generation during annual shortages. It currently uses several thousand tonnes of high-quality coal imported  from Indonesia during shortages.

The term sheet, which is non-binding, covers an annual supply of 300,000 tonnes of biomass for Genesis power generation. The $370m plant should be in production by 2028.

The power station was enthusiastic about the product, known as "black pellets", after a trial using this biomass imported from Canada last year. However, Genesis needs to be happy with cost, quality and certainty of supply before a full contract is agreed, according to Genesis’ Chris Mirams. 

This news, published in the NZ Herald on 10/2/25 did not appear in media south of...