Pacific, Great Southern sign agreement

Plantation manager Great Southern Ltd has marked its entrance into the bioenergy market, signing an exclusive agreement to supply harvest residues to Pacific Energy's Great Southern Biomass project.

Under the agreement, Pacific Energy has exclusive rights to residues from Great Southern's plantations in the south of the state within a 120km radius of Bridgetown.

The two companies will also work towards creating a longer term strategic alliance, with the aim of jointly developing other biomass projects across Australia.

Great Southern had previously flagged that it was looking to diversify into other forestry opportunities, including bioenergy, as part of a strategy to diversify its earnings.

Perth-based Pacific Energy is developing two biomass plants in WA - one 28 megawatt biomass power station in Neerabup and another 38 megawatt biomass plant in the great southern.

Its Perth bioenergy project has been revised down from its original 46MW capacity.

It currently owns and operates two hydro electric power stations at the Cardinia Reservoir and Blue Rock Dam about 70km east of Melbourne.