Australian timber industry says incentives needed to enter power sector

In Australia, the timber industry says the government has stymied its potential growth as a green option for replacing coal-fueled power plants by not putting in place needed incentives to drive the transition. About 100MW of baseload power from a million metric tons of annual wood waste is being lost, the industry claims. Sawmills are deterred from the investment in energy due to a lack of available incentives, they say. In the meantime, some timber waste may be used as alternative feedstock for cogeneration at sugarcane mills during the off-season.