The Charters Towers region is set to receive a minimum $200 million annual boost to the local economy in addition to the creation of 650 jobs when the Pentland Bio-Energy project becomes a reality.
Speaking at the Charters Towers Prosperity Forum last week Renewable Developments Australia Pty Ltd (RDA) managing director Tony D’Alessandro briefed guests in attendance on the exciting prospects that lie ahead for those in the region.
The project which has been in development since 2004 will involve the construction of a fully integrated and energy self-sufficient, 66,152 hectare bio-ethanol production facility near the small town of Pentland 50km south-west of Charters Towers.
It’s predicted that by 2022 there will be a 145 billion litre demand for bio-ethanol, and demand from Asia will double in that time as well.
“We already have 20 investors on-board for the project including a U.S Fortune 100 company that will purchase all bio-ethanol produced at the facility for at least 15 years,” Mr D’Alessandro said.
“We’re aiming to complete the project in 25 months, which would take us from start of construction in June, 2016 through to commencement of the first harvest in June, 2018,” he said.
He said once completed the facility will produce the lowest cost bio-ethanol in the world.
“We are expecting to produce 250 million litres of fuel grade bio-ethanol between June 2018 and June 2019.
“A further 344 million litres will be produced between June 2019 and June 2020, which is what we’ll be expecting to output on an annual basis from that point forth.
“This will be accomplished using a 19,100 hectare portion of the site for the growth of irrigated sugar cane and sorghum.
He said energy used to fire the 50 megavolt co-generation plant will be derived from on-site by-product biogas and won’t require electricity to be delivered from the National Electricity Market (NEM).
Mr D’Alessandro said initially the facility will provide a $200m annual income injection to the Charters Towers region.
He said it’s also a scalable project with the ability to increase production capacity via staged development in excess of 1 billion litres of bio-ethanol.
“As soon as the stage one plant is commissioned, construction will start on an identically sized stage two plant.
“We have also planned for stage three, which will boost the income to the region to $600m per year.”
The project will also increase employment prospects in the region with 400 jobs to be created during the construction using a locally sourced workforce.
“This will be followed by the creation of an additional 250 permanent positions once construction is completed in June 2018.”
The project will have positive ramifications on the state level as well.
“The project alone can fulfill the vision outlined in the state government’s Biofuture 10 Year Roadmap which calls for Queensland to have a $1 billion sustainable and export oriented industrial biotechnology sector by 2025.”
In regards to the roadmap consultation paper, Mr D’Alessandro said the only challenge proposed that RDA hasn’t yet overcome is the need for access to the 75,000ML of water required for the first stage of production.
But Mr D’Alessandro said access to sufficient quantities of water is the only hurdle that the project is facing, but that RDA is working with government to resolve the issue.
He said the future prospective uses of bio-ethanol are very exciting and potentially highly profitable.
As well as using the bio-ethanol by-product for the manufacturing of bioplastics, there is also a lot of talk that it will be a key component used in hydrogen powered cars within the next decade.
