The Bioenergy Roadmap for South Australia provides a foundation for research, industry discussions and funding for the development of bioenergy projects in South Australia.

In March 2015, RenewablesSA commissioned Jacobs Group (Australia) to analyse South Australia’s bioenergy potential and produce a report and associated spatial data as a first step towards creating a substantial and sustainable bioenergy industry.

This process identified bioenergy ‘hotspot’ areas for further investigation. The associated spatial data and outputs are available to view on the online geohub portal.

The second stage of the Bioenergy Roadmap involved exploring the potential for bioenergy projects in regional areas. Engagement was undertaken with local businesses and industry groups to investigate potential collaboration in providing feedstocks, utilising energy outputs and assessing the feasibility of options.

This work was undertaken via a series of Industry Forums. Three have been held to date; in Mount Gambier in May 2016, in Loxton in June 2017 and in Balaklava in September 2018. A follow up workshop was held in Mount Gambier in December 2018 with a focus on the concept of a Bio-Hub for the region.

In 2016 RenewablesSA developed the Bioenergy Industry Development Program (BIDP) to ensure that ‘hotspot’ regions are best equipped to develop the bioenergy potential for that area, and to help develop specific projects.

The program included $175,000 in financial assistance for pre-feasibility and feasibility assessments of early stage bioenergy projects, as well as establishing a regional point of contact for mentoring and information sharing.