THE ambitious plan to build a $640 million sugar cane bioenergy plant in Ingham is dead in the water with directors placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Federal Government.
North Queensland Bio-Energy held a meeting to advise their 200 plus shareholders, who are mostly Herbert region cane growers, that the project had been placed on hold.
It is understood the mum and dad investors, some of whom had taken out loans to be involved, had pumped millions of dollars into underwriting the project, and will now see no return.
The project was projected to deliver 253 new jobs and to generate an increase of $96 million in regional output.
NQBE Chairman Robert Carey said successive Federal Governments’ constant changing of Australia’s climate and energy policy had caused enormous uncertainty in the market.
“Investors and financiers in any industry require certainty around policy, so that they have the confidence to invest,” Mr Carey said.
“In the case of the Australian energy policy, they need bipartisan support on the policy, so that they know the goal posts won’t move and this allows them to make long term investment decisions”.
Mr Carey said the decision to halt the project was based purely on financial considerations.
He said the Australian Renewable Energy Agency had provided grant funding to solar and wind farms, while NQBE had not, so could not compete financially.
“The NQBE project is a base load 24/7 renewable power generation facility but cannot succeed with electricity pricing around $40 to $50 per megawatt hour,” Mr Carey said.
The announcement came despite NQBE issuing a statement last November stating construction would commence following the 2018 wet season.
Herbert River Canegrowers Chair Michael Pisano said there was enormous disappointment among shareholders following the decision.
“I can understand the disappointment of directors and shareholders that the project has been called to a halt,” Mr Pisano said.
“There was a lot of passion for this project, the directors had done quite a lot of work to try to get up and running.”
Mr Pisano said it was another kick in the guts for growers, who had struggled through years of negotiations with Wilmar over grower choice and marketing. They are now dealing with low sugar prices while recovering from flooding earlier this year.
“All of those things and then news of this…. all these things lower the resilience of the farming community.”
However, Mr Pisano remained optimistic that there was still room for projects similar to NQBE in the renewable energy market in the future. “There is still a way to go, but there’s still plenty of upsides to the industry.”
