Australian sugarcane ethanol export potential at 793 Mgy, report says

In Australia, a study by Accenture projected that Australia could export up to 793 million gallons of sugarcane ethanol per year, if all sugarcane exports were converted to biofuels -  more than Thailand, Guatemala, South Africa, Colombia or Argentina.

Australia’s support for sugarcane ethanol, and biofuels in general, has come under scrutiny.

Earlier this month, a $120 million ethanol plant in Condobolin, in western New South Wales, was halted. The project’s developer, Agri Energy, had previously announced that it would re-center its operations around its US investments in response to uncertain grain supplies, and lack of community and government support for biofuels in Australia.

Last month, the South Australian premier Mike Rann said that the Australian federal government had missed the opportunity to make Australia a leader in global renewable energy development. The premier was commenting on the national Clean Energy Target, under which low-emission sources would account for 30,000 gigawatt hours per year by 2020 – about 15 per cent of Australia’s energy consumption. “Instead of a new plan to tackle climate change, the commonwealth has given us a substantially weakened re-packaging of state schemes and tried to sell it in the name of streamlining,” Mr Rann said.

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