A few years ago, the generator at our water bore had issues in the middle of a heat wave and there was no water. At that time, it was quicker and more cost effective to buy another generator the exact same and drop it in place. A few weeks later, we got the parts to fix the original generator which became our spare. Fast forward to now, we needed a generator to power the crushing line we knew exactly where to find one! The problem is, our front end loaders can only lift one tonne and this generator is well over that.
An effortless lift for the mighty excavator.
The solution? You guessed it. The excavator! It effortlessly picked up the generator and placed it on a trailer to be moved closer to the crushing plant.
When crushing olives, the olive paste must be gently heated in order to have the oil separate from the flesh once it goes through the first centrifuge. The worst case scenario for this heating is when the olives are extremely cold in winter and the processing line is running at full speed. Assuming the entire mass of the olives is water (which as a very high heat capacity), we estimated that our upper limit of energy required for heating was 100kw. Given that there isn’t a three phase mains supply of power to the farm and the cost of running an electric heater from a diesel generator was so high, gas was the best choice.
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The bollards going in.
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The completed pad.
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The gas tank after delivery.
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The gas tanks first fill.
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Jim and Lachlan proud of Harrison's excavator work.
We spoke to origin energy about the requirements for getting a gas tank delivered. We then laid a pad, dug in some bollards and filled them with concrete. A few days later, a truck came and delivered a gas tank. We then had a gas plumber come out and run the line to the boilers. A few days after that, we were all gassed up and ready to go!