Aussie sugar millers firmly support renewables target - report

May 23, 2014 - Representatives of the sugar industry in Australia are concerned that a potential scrapping of the country’s renewable energy target (RET) scheme would be “a retrograde step” for the industry, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) said Thursday.

Australia aims to source 20% of its total power from renewables by 2020. However, the share requirement has been questioned ever since the new government appointed former Reserve Bank board member and global warming skeptic Dick Warburton as head of a planned review of the scheme.

The Australian Sugar Milling Council (AMSC) has voiced out its concerns at a meeting with the review panel, pointing out that the uncertainty around the RET programme places a hazard on the development of the industry. Usually, sugar makers use the by-product bagasse as a feedstock for biomass power generation. According to the organisation, the sugar milling sector has invested more than AUD 300 million (USD 277m/EUR 203m) in the last five years and has identified AUD 1 billion of additional investment in future energy efficiency and co-generation projects.

ASMC’s CEO Dominic Nolan said, as quoted by the ABC, that the sugar industry would lose AUD 35 million in revenue if the current RET scheme is changed.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.924/EUR 0.677)

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