The potential is to generate reliable base-load power, heat and renewable gas, as well as biochar.
The company confirmed its investigation into the concept in late March and with the council called for farmer input to assess raw-product availability and project scale.
Ararat council chief executive Dr Tim Harrison said regional farmer input and partnerships were essential for the project moving ahead.
“The project has come about from discussions with local agribusinesses who have been calling out for governments to take a lead on ways to recover energy from farm waste,” he said.
“Rather than wait for governments to catch up on finding ways to address our economic and environmental challenges, we’ve reached out to industry for a solution.”
Dr Harrison said a farmer response had already been ‘extremely’ strong with agribusinesses from across western Victoria including Ararat, Horsham and Nhill committing more than 58,000 tonnes of straw and stubble via an expression-of-interest process.
He emphasised that Tuesday’s forum would be ‘light on presentations and heavy on discussion’.
“By combining the expertise of our economic and energy partners with the local knowledge of our farmers we’re taking a direct-action approach to solving a range of economic and environmental challenges,” he said.
“This project strongly aligns with our partnership with Federation University to secure the Ararat Jobs and Technology Precinct, which will find new ways to attract investment and retain profits for farmers here.”
Dr Harrison said initial modelling from Pacific Heat and Power had shown strong potential for the project to support jobs, both from the investment and operation of the plant, and via additional revenue for farmers.
“Due to the supply limitations of the energy grid, we have energy-intensive industries that have to carefully consider expansion because they can’t secure a stable or cost-effective energy supply,” he said.
“What this project does is turns a major impediment for industry into a competitive advantage,” Dr Harrison said.
“The straw-fired power plant provides an opportunity to effectively secure energy and renewable gas for use by local industry, including potentially in a ‘behind-the-meter’ arrangement, reducing utility bills well below the market rate.”
Biochar, which returns nutrients and minerals to soils to improve agricultural productivity while locking carbon away as part of a circular economy strategy, is also a project consideration.
Dr Grierson stressed again that while the project was an Australian first, the technology had been proven in other parts of the world as an effective way to recover energy from waste.
“The Grampians Gas project creates an opportunity to bring scalable cereal straw technology to Australia for the first time,” he said.
“This enables us to turn agricultural residues into energy and value-added products that will increase competition in the energy market, diversify farm incomes and improve soil productivity while reducing carbon emissions.”
Dr Harrison said people keen to attend the forum could RSVP to
business@ararat.vic.gov.au or by phoning 5355 0264.
He said people could find out more about the project and register an expression of interest to supply cereal straw online at www.grampiansgas.com.au.
EDITORIAL: Let’s back ourselves and get moving
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