Ethanol plant awaits 10pc mandate

The chairman of the Manildra Group, Dick Honan, says the Bomaderry ethanol plant will be able to produce half of New South Wales’ ethanol needs when a 10% ethanol mandate is implemented. A number of country Labor MPs, including the Minister for Lands, Tony Kelly, toured the plant, on the state’s south coast. The plant is currently undergoing a $200 million expansion after the introduction of a 2% ethanol mandate in 2007. Honan says the expansion will be finished in time for a 10% mandate the Government promised to introduce in 2011. “That will bring us to approximately 300 million liters of ethanol, a 10% mandate will require approximately 600 million liters,” he said. (July 3, 2009)