Funding boosts capacity to transform organic waste into renewable energy
Published Tue 27 Jun 2023
Organic waste destined for landfill will be transformed into renewable energy thanks to funding from Sustainability Victoria, delivered on behalf of the Victorian Government. The $8 million Waste to Energy – Bioenergy Fund is Victoria’s largest investment in bioenergy to date and will significantly boost our bioenergy capacity, setting an important example to the industry about the value of our waste products.
Supporting 24 projects, the fund will ensure waste produced by farming and food production, like cooking oil, dairy excess and vegetable offcuts will be converted into electricity, heat, gas or liquid fuel.
Not only will this waste be saved from landfill, but it’s anticipated that these projects will generate 6.8 megawatts of energy, the equivalent of powering 3,410 homes.
One of the fund recipients is Katunga Fresh Produce, a hydroponic truss tomato grower in the Goulburn Valley. The grant from Sustainability Victoria will support their plans to build a pyrolysis plant to process their excess organic matter. The energy produced will result in 145,000 gigajoules of natural gas being returned to the grid, warming their glasshouses in the process. This investment will save Katunga a whopping $3 million per year.
Another fund recipient is Australian Consolidated Milk who plans to develop a facility to process cheese whey waste from the cheese production process. The biogas created when the cheese whey is broken down will be converted into electricity to run the dairy manufacturing plant.
Yarra Valley Water corporation will use their funding to purchase generation equipment at their anaerobic digestion facility at Lilydale Sewage Treatment Plant. The process of anaerobic digestion helps break down organic matter with bacteria. Once their plant is operational, it will process around 27,000 tonnes per annum of commercial and industrial food waste, producing around 11,400 megawatt hours of electricity each year to power their facility, with the remaining energy injected into the grid.
In addition to building Victoria’s capability in bioenergy, these projects will significantly contribute to achieving our targets to halve organic waste sent to landfill by 2030 and will help us on our journey to net zero emissions by 2050.
Learn more about the Waste to Energy - Bioenergy fund recipients.