Amadeus secures $7 million grant

AMADEUS Energy subsidiary Australian Renewable Fuels has won a $7.15 million grant under the Federal Government’s Biofuels Capital Grants Program.

The grant has been approved for the 40,000 tonnes-a-year biodiesel project to be located in Port Adelaide.

Amadeus gave the South Australian plant the go-ahead in May. The biodiesel plant will be sourced from Austrian technology provider Energea.

When completed, the ARF plant is expected to be the largest biodiesel producer in Australia.

In an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange in May, the company said this would be the first of five plants it planned to establish in Australia.

ARF has also signed an agreement with a European-based commodity trader to sell biodiesel into the market.

It has also secured a debt finance facility for $6.5 million with the Wells Fargo bank in the US and committed $8 million to the project.

Amadeus’ Daryl Butcher said the grant meant the company would be able to free up some of the capital it had put into the South Australian plant and accelerate the biodiesel plant roll-out.

The next plant is earmarked for Picton in Western Australia’s South West.