Australia in Landmark $1.3 Billion Project to Turn Farm Waste to Energy

(Bloomberg) — Melbourne-based company AgBioEn will start construction next week on a A$2 billion ($1.35 billion) project to turn agricultural waste into energy for use in food production.

The facility at Katunga in Victoria state is the first of its kind in Australia, the company said in a media statement, converting organic waste materials such as cereal straw into electricity, renewable diesel and jet fuel, and fertilizer.

“All agricultural land used to supply biomass to the facility will also be used to cultivate food crops,” said Program Director Lubey Lozevski. “It is a priority for AgBioEn that no agricultural land is taken away from food cultivation to create fuels.”

About 75,000 hectares of land will be used by 2023 to supply biomass to the facility, while hydroponic tomato grower Katunga Fresh will take power from the project to add more glasshouses to its operation.

Australia is gradually waking up to the potential of bio-energy generation with three major projects in development across the country using household waste as a feedstock.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.