Roadmap shows big opportunity for Australia in bioenergy
by Cecilia Harris
Australia’s bioenergy sector could play a significant role in reducing carbon emissions, stimulating the economy and creating jobs in regional areas, according to the Bioenergy Roadmap released by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
Developed in consultation with Enea Consulting and Deloitte Australia, and based on industry and public consultation, the Bioenergy Roadmap sets a pathway for a sustainable bioenergy industry that can help lower emissions, enhance waste recovery and deliver economic benefits.
ARENA CEO Darren Miller said the Bioenergy Roadmap provides a vision for bioenergy over the next decade, including the opportunities that bioenergy offers for regional areas.
“Bioenergy has significant potential to complement Australia’s future energy mix and our economy. Being so diverse, bioenergy can benefit multiple sectors with residential, commercial and industrial applications,” he said.
“As well as reducing our agricultural waste, bioenergy can reduce emissions in hard-to-abate sectors and can complement other low emission technologies.
“The Bioenergy Roadmap builds upon years of work in bioenergy and the lessons learned from those projects, and sets out a clear pathway forward for the bioenergy sector.”
According to the Roadmap, the bioenergy sector has the potential to contribute around $10 billion to Australia’s annual GDP and create 26,200 new jobs.
Further, the development of the sector could reduce emissions by 9%, enhance fuel security and divert an extra 6% of waste from landfill.
A path to the future
ARENA has received $33.5 million from the Australian Government to support implementation of the Bioenergy Roadmap through additional research, development and deployment of advanced sustainable aviation and marine biofuels.
Miller said the roadmap will help to inform the next series of investment and policy decisions by the private and public sectors in the bioenergy industry in Australia.
“We hope this roadmap will provide the information required by governments and industry to further develop our bioenergy resources and support future growth,” Miller said.
“We welcome the additional funding from the Australian Government, which will help ARENA to immediately help the sector in funding new research, development and deployment projects in aviation and maritime biofuels.”
