Australian state development minister calls for expansion of ethanol plant; says expansion needed to meet E2 mandate

In Australia, New South Wales Regional Development Minister Tony Kelly called for the expansion of the Manildra ethanol production plant at Nowra.

He said that expansion would allow the state to meet its E2 mandate that came into effect on October 1st, and meet half of the demand created by the statewide E10 mandate proposed for 2011.

Last month in Western Australia, Ord River sugar growers asked the Western Australia government to support the Ord Stage 2 expansion project, which will provide more land for sugar and give the growers enough economy of scale to produce ethanol from sugar.

The sugar industry is threatened with shut down after the closure of a local Kununurra-based plant in the next year due to depressed global sugar prices. The sugar growers pointed to a 10 million tonne glut of sugar predicted for next year as evidence that only a switch to ethanol production could save their industry.

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