By Gavin Coote
They’re described by the Australian Financial Review as an economist’s poster child of the carbon tax.
Bindaree Beef is set to revolutionise its energy system and install world-first technology to power the family-owned plant.
The abattoir in the northern New South Wales town of Inverell plans to install a $45 million biodigester and run the majority of the plant on clean energy with a one of a kind bio-gas system.
Project manager David Sneddon says the family nearly invested $2 million into the piloting of the project.
“We went for the full innovative approach and I’ve had the family support right behind this the whole way,” he said.
“If we could generate our electricity, the other problem we had was our coal-fired boiler, so with this we eliminate our coal-fired boiler.
“We at the moment burn 7,200 tonne of coal a year, so we eliminate that.”
Bindaree Beef were set to be one of the only companies in the region that would have to pay the carbon tax, however now they’ll dramatically lower their greenhouse emissions as they reduce their reliance on coal-fired power.
“We’ll reduce it by 61 per cent on our total emissions but on our taxable, which is everything bar electricity, we’ll reduce it by 95 per cent,” he said.
David hopes this project will provide some leadership for the industry, however he says it’s been difficult formulating American technologies into their own unique application.
“It’s one of the only ones in the world that’s actually worked successfully on these waste streams,” he said.
“The hardest part is, with it being a new innovation and new technology you can’t just go and see it anywhere,” he said.
Inverell Shire mayor Paul Harmon says the innovative new technology is likely to be a major win for the community.
“This is going to be a great benefit for the Inverell community,” he said.
“Obviously during the construction phase it’ll give new jobs to the area and provide some employment other than those working in the meat processing part of the plant, but also the long-term environmental outcomes that will come out of the changing of the energy plant.”
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