State-owned Verve Energy is seeking a partner to invest $50 million into building Western Australia’s first commercial integrated wood processing plant in the Wheatbelt, after research and trials confirmed the viability of the technology.
Verve this week called on interested parties to submit expressions of interest.
It’s the first step in a process that could lead to a full-sized commercial plant and potentially a new industry for WA following seven years’ work on the project.
This follows a successful trial of the technology at an IWP demonstration plant at Narrogin, fuelled by oil mallee trees supplied by Fremantle-based Oil Mallee Company, and operated by Verve with financial support from government.
The new plant will use about 20 million trees to produce between five and seven megawatts of renewable electricity, in addition to potential by-products such as activated carbon and eucalyptus oil.
The commercial project will capitalise on the $19 million IWP demonstration Narrogin plant, which was built, with considerable state and federal government financial support, by Western Power before it was split into several new entities. It is now operated by Verve.
The demonstration plant confirmed that the three mature technologies, which separately produce electricity, activated carbon and eucalyptus oil, operate together successfully in an integrated plant.
Verve Energy general manager, trading and sustainability, Greg Denton, said the company had received a number of enquiries about the results of the trial, and was confident of the economic viability of the project.
“A lot of the risk is now behind us, so investors can come in with the confidence that what we’re doing is technically feasible,” Mr Denton said.
