Biodiesel Australia

A group called Clean Technology Australia collected investors, dealers and Australian biofuel company CEOs together for a forum to discuss the current situation and future possibilities of biofuels Down Under recently. The short of it is that biodiesel rules ethanol, but overall Australia lags behind the U.S. and Brazil. Australia could grow crops that would produce between 600 and 750 million liters of biofuel (a year?). Biodiesel is more popular than ethanol in Australia thanks to an existing infrastructure of large-scale production facilities. The companies that participated were Australian Biodiesel Group Ltd., Australian Renewable Fuels Ltd., and Australian Ethanol Ltd. Other biofuel news from Australia can be read here (insurance issues) and here (using food waste to make biofuels).

All over the world, biofuels are being heralded as a solution to many of the problems of the 20th century. Well, the fuels have got problems as well and Australian insurance agents may put the breaks on the rapid biofuel expansion in that country because of those problems. UPI has a quick news item about Australian insurance brokers who are worried the biofuel field is "open to exploitation and error because pressure to adopt such alternative fuels as biodiesel has eclipsed the government's ability to regulate the industry," the article says. Without regulations and a standard product, insurers are worried about what biodiesel may do to motors. Fuel distributors are worried, too, about liability if their fuel causes damage to someone's engine and the engine manufacturer's do not honor their warranty.

Other articles:
Biodiesel Asia - Biodiesel Availability

The Australian government's 2001-02 inquiry into the fuel taxation structure led to a recommendation that excise and customs duty be applied to all liquid fuels regardless of source. To make this possible without compromising the push toward cleaner fuels, a grant was necessary to offset the inevitable imposition of excise on biodiesel. As a result of the Energy Grants (Cleaner Fuels) Scheme Bill 2003, the excise duty on diesel (38.143 cents per litre) will now apply to biodiesel as well. However, grants for import and production of biodiesel will be provided so as to ensure that the effective excise rate for biodiesel is zero. This applies to both 100% biodiesel and to the biodiesel components of blends until 30 June 2008. Subsequently, the grant will be reduced in five annual instalments by 1 July 2012.

Australia, as a late entrant into the biodiesel market, has current and expected capacities for biodiesel production that are negligible when compared to the total domestic diesel consumption of around 14 billion litres a year. In the first place, total oilseed production volumes in the country are small by global standards.