Osborne Park-based bioethanol producer Grainol Ltd has been granted major project facilitiation status by the federal government.
Grainol’s $600 million project incorporates two ethanol production facilities, at East Rockingham Industrial Park and Bunbury, with each plant producing about 190 million litres of ethanol annually.
MPF status means the company will receive assistance through the approvals process, as well as financial support from government programs, facilitated by the federal government’s inward investment agency, Invest Australia.
The company’s $300 million Kwinana plant, located near port facilities and grain supplier Cooperative Bulk Handling, is currently before council seeking approval.
Grainol is also pursuing a second plant in Picton, about six kilometres east of Bunbury, to produce 190ML of ethanol.
Both will use 500,000 tonnes of locally sourced high-starch wheat each year.
The project is expected to create 250 jobs during the construction phase and 40 ongoing jobs during operation.
Managing director Colette Menegola said achieving MPF status would speed up the approvals process, and help the company access government programs available to biofuel producers.
“MPF status will help Grainol achieve timely and efficient approvals process given the influx [of projects] as a result of the state of the economy in WA,” she told WA Business News.
Grainol is WA’s newest entry to the biofuels industry, joining Australian Renewable Fuels Ltd and New South Wales-based Primary Energy in developing production in facilities in the state.
The company was started by current chairman Max de Grussa, who established UK consultancy Envirotas Ltd and was responsible for overseeing the construction of two biodiesel plants in the north-east of England and one in Sweden.
