Almond grower and nut, snack and muesli maker, Select Harvests is building Australia's first almond-only production line as well as a biomass cogeneration power plant at its Victorian facility.
The Victorian & Federal Governments are chipping in $1.5 million towards the $20.5 million project, which is taking place at Select Harvests’ processing plant in Carina West in the Sunraysia region.
Select Harvests recently invested more than $1 million on upgrading high voltage electricity infrastructure between the almond processing plant and two nearby dams in the almond orchard.
The second stage involves installing a biomass boiler and steam turbine plant, fuelled by almond and orchard waste products, and converting it to heat and power to primarily power Select Harvests’ plant and nearby dams, with excess power fed into the electricity grid.
This will also provide electricity security for the Carina West plant and stability for the local area, consume 29,000 metric tonnes of almond and orchard waste and reduce Select Harvests’ annual carbon dioxide emissions by more than 23,000 tonnes, according to Select Harvests.
Stage three will see the installation of a state-of-the-art almond-only processing plant, which will enable Select Harvests to meet market demand for almond products free of other nut allergens - an first for Australian almonds, according to the company.
Victoria is Australia’s largest producer of almonds and in 2014–15, Victoria’s almond exports were valued at $381 million.
Select Harvests said stages two and three would secure 75 jobs and create a further 20 jobs at the plant.
