Rural Life 12

Mind, Body & Soul 17

Cogeneration needs to be in the Jobs and Energy Plan

By Kevin Borg, Chairman, CANEGROWERS Mackay

nificant lack of consultation with landholders prior to the announcement. It’s engendered dismay and confusion, and there is a clear need for rapid transparency, including quality mapping rather than the broad-brushstroke publicity mapping currently available.

CANEGROWERS Mackay sees the project as an opportunity to develop productivity – reaching out to goals for the Mackay-Plane Creek cane growing districts to supply feedstock to plant-based protein manufacturers that will emerge as Mackay takes a stronger role in the biofutures economy. If the State Government is genuinely committed to developing biofutures and a circular economy in the Mackay Region, delivering direct, localised social benefit from this large-scale renewable energy project would be offering a discounted tariff to local producers for electricity needed to irrigate. CANEGROWERS Mackay’s Irrigation Project, funded under the Mackay Whitsunday Water Quality Program and led by our Agricultural Economist John Eden is clearly showing that growers applying irrigation in a strategic manner not only has outcomes for the environment in terms of run-off water quality, but also some outstanding productivity results for increases in tonnes of cane per hectare. It’s a critical link in continuing to meet the region’s milling throughput needs, and creating additional feedstock for future foods and fuels. It would be tremendous to see some lateral thinking and allowing one project to meet another area of government policy. The Sugar-Plus industry roadmap – which was developed by industry in collaboration with the Queensland Government clearly identifies, alongside future foods and fibres- fuel. Biofuel already has a place in our regional technology – with ethanol at Plane Creek and the Mercurius project at Racecourse. As CANEGROWERS, we support the concept of renewable energy. There are many opportunities to embrace renewable energy not excluding the barely tapped opportunities within the sugar industry. It is certainly pleasing to see the inclusion in the Queensland Jobs and Energy Plan of a planned $4M investment to investigate options for expanding generation from biomass waste streams such as bagasse – derived from cane and used to fuel electricity cogeneration from sugar mills. But it would be better yet to see this opportunity properly acknowledged and realised within the Jobs and Energy Plan as a listed, recognised energy source to be actively developed, rather than merely investigated. Here in Mackay, Racecourse Mill cogeneration plant has been pumping out 38MW for the past seven years, delivering one third of Mackay’s energy needs to the grid, alongside producing enough energy to power the mill and the neighbouring refinery. Cogenerating mills across the Australian sugar industry currently produce over one million megawatt hours every year, of which 44% goes to the domestic grid. Imagine further developing and harnessing that potential at all mills, conceivably at a lower price tag than a $12billion greenfields pumped hydro project. A recent report by the Australian Sugar Milling Council found that Queensland’s milling sector had the capacity to almost quadruple its current generation from bagasse from 438MW to 1,736MW. This could see the industry exporting up to 7,588 gigawatt hours of energy a year Food for thought when the question on a lot of people lips is “Is this hydro a pipe dream when there are many cheaper options?”

Cogen is a tried-and-true process that makes great use of a waste product. If we are talking Queensland, then a biomass waste streaming process from a major crop is a no-brainer if we are aiming to create a diverse and strong energy mix. It’s a product we have right here, right now, and a host of mills that could be brought online to power a renewable future for Queensland.