Blue Lake Milling SA Bioenergy Plant
Commendation: Environment, Energy sector
Delorean Corporation is a bioenergy company, leading the market with commercial production of green energy renewable gas. They specialise in the design, build, ownership and management of bioenergy infrastructure and associated power generation and retail.
The anaerobic digestion (AD) plants significantly reduce the amount of organic waste going to landfill, redirecting it towards production of clean, green energy and biofertiliser to capture nutrients.
The South Australian Bioenergy Project was developed and constructed for Blue Lake Milling (BLM), a leading manufacturer of premium Australian oat and grain products.
The primary goals were to offset BLM’s monthly energy costs and improve their environmental footprint.
Delorean developed the world’s first commercial scale AD facility converting ground out milled feed into renewable energy, heat and biofertiliser, and successfully achieved the project goals of reducing energy costs and improving of sustainability.
This ground-breaking work has created the opportunity to apply the innovative process to other agricultural waste streams. In addition, the project has improved energy reliability and security in a fragile part of the electricity network.
Q&A with Delorean Corporation and Blue Lake Milling
The Blue Lake Milling Bioenergy Plant in Bordertown is the first facility of its kind in the world to process oat husk for power production.
The plant diverts organic waste from the oat processing facility from landfill to produce renewable energy. Through the process of anaerobic digestion biogas is produced. This is then utilised to generate electricity and heat. The electricity is utilised to power the Blue Lake Facility with the surplus energy fed into the grid. The heat produced from the generator from electricity production is then utilised in the anaerobic digestion facility. The digestion process produces biofertiliser which is then used as a soil enhancer to improve crop yield.
The process has significant environmental benefits:
- The displacement of fossil fuels with a renewable source of energy.
- Reduction in waste to land fill. Globally approximately one third of food production is sent to landfill. When waste is sent to landfill it breaks down and releases methane gas that has 28 times the atmospheric warming potential of carbon dioxide.
- Production of biofertiliser which is used in food production.
Currently the plant has produced over 3,000 MWh of electricity and 4,000 tonnes of biofertiliser.
The current volatility in the energy market is serving as a significant driver for renewables to play a more prominent role going forward. It is increasing the speed of the transition to clean energy and providing a highly supportive environment for established and proven renewable energy generators and retailers such as Delorean. Delorean was already producing green gas at prices that were comparative to fossil fuel gas, however the escalations in energy prices are making renewables an increasingly cost competitive as well as environmentally friendly alternative.
The need for sustainable, commercial and economic solutions to the crisis will ensure that demand for renewable gas, as produced by Delorean’s bioenergy plants, will continue to outstrip supply over both immediate and long term time frames.
The new Federal Government has also formally committed to reducing Australia's emissions by 43% by 2030, a significantly more aggressive target than the previous Government.
This is a powerful move of support for renewable energy businesses that will provide the governmental alignment that will help ensure renewables continue their increasing prominence in the energy mix.
The potential to be selected for the Premier’s Award provided the ideal platform to add credibility and a profile for our leadership and success in bioenergy across Australasia. The independent expert analysis will also provide us with valuable feedback on our continuing commitment to advance our sustainability mission whilst also maintaining our focus of providing financial benefits to investors.
From a personal perspective and not originally coming from South Australia it has the feel of a large country town while still having all the amenities of large city.
In terms of industry South Australia has gone through a transitional phase, with many new and exciting emerging industries some of which are world leading.
Overall it’s a great standard of living and with good career opportunities.
The Australian Government’s Bioenergy Roadmap reveals that by the start of the next decade, Australia’s bioenergy sector could contribute to around $10 billion in extra GDP per annum, create 26,200 new jobs, reduce emissions by about 9%, divert an extra 6% of waste from landfill, and enhance fuel security and become a $3.5 billion to $5 billion sector.
Supporting this roadmap is the 2019 National Waste Policy that aims to halve the amount of organic waste sent to landfill by 2030. Australia produces approximately 40 Mtonnes/annum of waste (12.5 Mtonnes from commercial and industrial streams, 28M tonnes from agricultural waste), ensuring not just the potential but more importantly the need, for bioenergy to become an increasingly significant part of the energy mix.
The South Australian government is doing a tremendous job supporting the transition to renewable energy, creating opportunities and jobs in the waste, energy and agriculture sectors.
Anaerobic digestion is a mature stage technology, globally established and led by Europe, but under-utilised in Australia. This is enabling Delorean to help drive and capitalise on the domestic transition to this technology. Our leadership in applying anaerobic digestion in innovative and new contexts will serve to further enhance the role of this technology in Australia’s energy mix.
An example of this is our BLM Project in South Australia (BLM is a subsidiary of CBH Group). This project is the first of its kind in the world to process ground out milled fines (GOMF) for power production on site, behind the meter, utilising agricultural residues for onsite energy production.
Delorean’s vision is to be recognised as Australia and New Zealand’s leading emerging renewable energy generator and retailer, led by our fast growing bioenergy infrastructure footprint.
We have a $500m pipeline of projects in early stage engagement, feasibility, development and construction. We will continue to advance these projects, whilst maintaining our commitment to sustainability.
Delorean is leading the market with the commercial production of green energy, including biomethane as in-demand renewable gas, contributing in a meaningful way to the reduction of fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions whilst also addressing Australia’s ever increasing waste issue.
Bioenergy is the immediate renewable solution for green gas and is proven to be commercially viable in Australia because of Delorean’s ground-breaking and innovative work. Delorean’s partnerships with recognised industry leaders and government utilities reflect the company’s well established and highly regarded position in the market. These partnerships affirm the company’s prominence and deliver financial, societal and environmental benefits to a cross section of different sectors.
As a company our intent is to make a tangible difference both to the environmental and to securing our energy needs for the future. The Premier’s Awards raise awareness of our emerging industry along with recognition and viability for future development.
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