Forestry bioenergy must be part of Queensland’s renewable energy future

TimberQueensland
May 12, 2016
2 min read

Updated: Mar 19

The Queensland timber industry has called on the Queensland Government to ensure forestry biomass is fully utilised and promoted in the State’s renewable energy future.

Timber Queensland Chief Executive Officer, Mick Stephens said, “Bioenergy already represents over 65% of the State’s renewable energy output, mostly from the use of bagasse from the sugar industry. Biomass from timber processing such as sawdust and forestry waste can also offer significant potential to further contribute to the States renewable energy future.”

The Queensland Minister for Energy and Biofuels Mark Bailey has announced the release of an Issues Paper into assessing pathways to a 50% renewable energy target for Queensland by 2030.

“With the right policy settings, the timber industry can play a complementary role in delivering renewable energy pathways for the State. This is the case in many other parts of the world with existing forest industries, such as in Finland and Sweden.”

“The Queensland timber industry produces a large amount of biomass from processing operations with only some of it put into local or regional bioenergy facilities,” Mr Stephens said.

“Not only can bioenergy deliver baseload power 24/7, it can support greater jobs compared to other renewables and is well suited to many existing timber milling sites in rural and regional areas.”

“To meet higher targets, there will be a need for better enabling policies to support renewable energy investment. Some of the policies that have worked elsewhere in the world for bioenergy projects include more attractive feed-in tariffs, capital financing assistance, infrastructure support and reducing regulatory barriers to available feedstocks.”

“Timber Queensland will be pursuing these bioenergy opportunities with the Queensland Government,” Mr Stephens said.

The Issues Paper by the Queensland Renewable Energy Expert Panel can be found here: http://www.qldrepanel.com.au/issues-paper