Western Australian-based company Grainol Ltd looking to develop its first WA plant in the East Rockingham Industrial Park, the second for the Kwinana-Rockingham industrial area.
Western Australian-based company Grainol Ltd looking to develop its first WA plant in the East Rockingham Industrial Park, the second for the Kwinana-Rockingham industrial area.
The $300 million plant will produce 190 million litres of bio-ethanol fuel each year, using about 500,000 tonnes of local high-starch wheat transported from the nearby Cooperative Bulk Handling grain facility.
The proposed site was chosen because of its close proximity to grain access, established infrastructure including storage facilities at Coogee Chemicals, and deepwater port facilities at Kwinana.
The plant will be the first in Australia to utilise the low-emission Vogelbusch technology, which is used in more than 30 bio-ethanol plants worldwide.
The company is hoping to build several bio-ethanol plants in WA, with the Rockingham plant the only one planned for the Perth region.
The plant will initially export its bio-ethanol to markets in the Asia-Pacific region, but will also closely monitor the domestic ethanol market.
Managing director Colette Menegola said the plant was still going through the lengthy approvals and licensing process, which was expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The public consultation process is also well under way, with the company engaged in open days, public forums and presentations to the local community.
“The facility is the largest that we know of proposed in WA, and perhaps in Australia,” Ms Menegola told WA Business News.
She said the company had been in discussions with the City of Rockingham, which last month endorsed an appeal against the Environmental Protection Authority’s level of environmental assessment of the proposed plant.
The city had previously expressed its disappointment that Grainol had not undertaken sufficient consultation with city staff and councillors prior to lodging the proposal with the EPA in December 2006.
But Ms Menegola is confident that the Grainol proposal now has council backing.
“Council is very supportive of the project,” Ms Menegola said. “We have had many discussions with them, and the more they know about the project the more they seem to be in agreeance with what we’re doing.”
The Grainol proposal follows another ethanol plant proposal in the area, by New South Wales-based Primary Energy, which wants to build its plant in the adjacent Kwinana Industrial Area.
The Primary Energy facility will produce 80ML of ethanol per year, and incorporate a 22-megawatt electricity generating plant and fertiliser manufacturing facilities.
For its part, the City of Rockingham has failed to support either project, and has expressed opposition to the construction of an ethanol plant within its boundaries.
“Council does not support the concept of a bio-ethanol project as both proposals do not comply with the EPA buffer distances, and there is great concern that that both will have a significant impact on North Rockingham,” City of Rockingham Mayor Barry Sammels said.
Last month, the city appealed against the EPA’s level of environmental assessment set for the Primary Energy project, after it expressed concerns over the inadequate buffer distance to North Rockingham residents.
“North Rockingham is an expanding, popular residential area and the city believes this proposal will have a significant impact on future developments,” Mr Sammels said.
