Fuel and energy: shocks and solutions

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By Joseph Borg, Chairman, CANEGROWERS Mackay

Just as Australia is facing a critical fuel supply crunch, the Queensland state government’s long-awaited Agriculture Parliamentary Committee Sugarcane Bioenergy Inquiry has delivered a blueprint that could transform both the fortunes of sugarcane growers and the nation’s energy resilience.  

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The inquiry’s twelve recommendations tabled in parliament recently, call for immediate action to harness the state’s sugarcane industry for clean, green energy production, spotlighting co-generation and ethanol as key solutions. For growers across the region, these findings represent a new lifeblood and a call to arms for policymakers to act now.

Queensland’s sugarcane sector has long been one of the major backbone components of the state’s rural economy. However, with escalating fuel prices and international supply chain disruptions, Australia’s fuel security is at a crossroads.

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The state government launched the sugarcane bioenergy inquiry to identify how the industry could help supplement fuel supplies, reduce reliance on imports, and deliver new revenue streams for growers and millers. The findings, released against the backdrop of a national fuel crisis, could not be timelier.

The inquiry’s twelve recommendations provide a clear and actionable roadmap. Among them, two stand out for their transformative potential: supporting the expansion of co-generation (the simultaneous production of electricity and heat from sugar mill by-products) and fast-tracking ethanol production for use as a transport fuel.  For this large-scale transition to occur, it would require immediate investment incentives for sugar mills to upgrade facilities for grid-connected co-generation, along with enforced mandates of a higher minimum ethanol blend in Queensland fuel, rising to 10 per cent by 2028.  If adopted, these two key recommendations-alongside the other ten emerging from the bioenergy inquiry-would position Queensland as a leader in renewable energy while securing new markets and income for the state’s sugarcane growers.

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For growers, the inquiry’s findings are unequivocally positive. By enabling sugar mills to co-generate power, and introducing regulatory frameworks that enable mills to form a virtual retail microgrid with their supplying growers, growers could tap into stable, premium electricity contracts and extend the industry’s circular economy, and conceivably reduce costs.  

Ethanol production under an enforced government mandate, meanwhile, could provide a profitable alternative market for the sugarcane industry, lifting prices and insulating growers and millers from volatile sugar prices. The proposed incentives and streamlined approvals would empower growers to be at the forefront of Australia’s clean energy revolution while securing the future of rural communities.

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Australia’s over-reliance on imported fuels has left the nation exposed to global market shocks. By ramping up local ethanol production and powering the grid with co-generated electricity, Queensland can play a decisive role in safeguarding national fuel supplies. The inquiry’s recommendations would see more affordable, locally produced fuel in the bowser and greater energy self-sufficiency for all Australians.

The message from Queensland’s sugarcane bioenergy inquiry is clear: the time for pilot projects and indecision is over. With the fuel crisis biting and growers demanding certainty, the state government must urgently implement the inquiry’s twelve recommendations. Acting now will unlock new income for growers, secure jobs, and put Queensland on the global map as a renewable energy powerhouse.

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For Queensland’s sugarcane growers, the government’s response to these parliamentary committee inquiry recommendations could shape the industry for decades to come. Co-generation and ethanol offer not just hope, but a practical path to prosperity and energy security. The future is in the paddock, let’s hope that the state government quickly adopts the required recommendations.  

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