AUSTRALIAN banks do not have the experience to assess business case scenarios for renewable energy proposals according to Regional Development Victoria (RDV) Energy Infrastructure Development manager Dr Leigh Clemow.
That was the message relayed to 100 Australian and international attendees at Agribusiness Gippsland's Bioenergy Forum, held at Heyfield recently.
Participants discussed using wood and animal wastes to create energy, including heating and lighting, on farms, in hospitals and to fuel vehicles.
Major disincentives for using renewable energy were the regulatory environment and lack of experience of the industry among Australian banks.
Low costs were attractive to both users and investors and would ensure the brown coal industry continued to be the dominant energy producer, according to RDV chair Richard Elkington.
Mr Elkington worked for decades in the brown coal extraction industry in the Latrobe Valley and was the opening speaker at the bioenergy forum.
"Renewables and coal are not mutually exclusive," Mr Elkington said.
Dr Clemow pointed to Australia's lack of investment in large-scale solar energy facilities as an example of how investors do not understand bioenergy principles in this country.
"Australian banks have Australian experiences. They don't have the global experiences that banks overseas deal with," he said.
"Traditionally on a capital project, they will fund up to 60 per cent and they know what the model for payback looks like, how the model will proceed, how its profits will come in.
"When we're transplanting models from overseas into the Australian and, indeed, the Victorian climate, investors and the banks don't believe the models will work.
"You can put a model in front of them; they still won't believe it, because we don't have one operating that they can actually go out and test and prove that model."
Dr Clemow recommended small waste re-use plants were easier to develop because investors could see how they work without spending massive amounts of time and money.
Among the renewable energy projects discussed at the forum were using digesters at abattoirs, capping dams to contain methane on pig farms and using wood waste to heat greenhouses.
A farm forester at Ballarat, Andrew Lang is vice-president of World Bioenergy and talked about Kenyan farmers using animal waste to create power and how Sweden has exceeded its bioenergy targets.
He said Australia's agriculture, forestry and food production industries can provide large amounts of waste product to create bioenergy.
"Technology innovation will drive biogas production," Mr Lang said.
"On the small-scale, the owner of a Kenyan abattoir is re-using animal waste to create power for his abattoir.
"In Sweden, cow manure processed into methane and biosolids is being used to fuel trucks, buses and private vehicles.
"The organic waste of a city in Sweden produces enough biogas to fuel the public transport of the city.
"In Germany, grass silage and straw mixed with manure provides heating and fertiliser.
"Australia needs to change its focus and catch up with the rest of the world."
East Gippsland Water's Frank McShane talked about the Bairnsdale Biodigester, a trial project using sewage sludge and food waste to generate heat and light.
"Anaerobic digestion is a very simple process that we sometimes overcomplicate," Mr McShane said.
"We can use food waste to generate electricity and use the byproduct as soil conditioner."
Pyrenees Shire's Regional Bioenergy Project, focussed on Beaufort Hospital, was discussed by Daryl Scherger.
The hospital is a demonstration site to raise awareness of bioenergy, using wood from a local sawmill to generate power.
"The project is about creating jobs, protecting local employment and increasing use of waste products," Mr Scherger said.
"We have learnt that anything to do with bioenergy is not easy. But bioenergy can halve the cost of electricity and heating for our hospital."
