CLEAN Update November

In the light of an unsuccessful bid for funding to advance the Cowra Biomass Project, CLEAN is investigating other promising investor opportunities. The detailed work that went into tightening our submission to ARENA has served to improve and refresh our collated data and information material. We also have an abridged version of the PFS as an extended summary for this purpose.

As CLEAN Cowra looks for other potential avenues of support, we have been developing a series of communication documents for the respective sectors. 

Two particular areas are multiple -departmental support from the NSW government and the Environmental philanthropic sector which has express interest in the broader project development. A single document, describing the project and its potential, is being reviewed and structured towards those specific sectors with the intension of garnering their support early in the new year.

A recent presentation to representatives from the environmental philanthropic sector provided positive feedback and the promise of further such pitches to a larger cohort in that space. We are optimistic about the potential funding that may develop from these contacts.

In that regard, mid November was part of a busy few days in which Dylan Gower presented at the national Bioenergy Australia annual conference in Brisbane, which had over 50 international delegates.  This is an important forum for key stakeholders in the bioenergy and sustainable development field and as such could also yield potential opportunities.

The conference proved very beneficial in catching up with a number of people who are familiar with the project. It was an excellent opportunity to present data and material and what we’ve achieved over the past year, particularly in relation to the PFS and the output of the website itself.  

The presentation took people through the methodology and approach we’ve taken, identifying whether they are appropriate to the Australian context and also to the type of technology proposed. That was very well received, with good feedback coming from the Queensland State development agency (Department of State Development) and Queensland Utilities (Urban Utilities). We also had favourable commentary from the Netherlands Energy Agency and other overseas groups.

We spoke to a number of potential vendors about the project, in particular for the pilot development path and are now in dialogue with them. Unfortunately we couldn’t attend the site visits, which would have given good insights into the preparation of our pilot demonstration. While in Brisbane, Dylan also caught up with Gerald Arends from Pegasus Legal, who has been helping develop aspects of the project including Memorandums of Understanding and the enterprise structure.

Travelling back through Sydney, Dylan used the opportunity to meet with members of the Australian Environmental Grant-makers Network (AEGN), as to how the sector may potentially contribute and how we could structure our presentation.  We hope to respond to them shortly with a view to presenting where we are up to. 

Also met with a legal contact in the resource and energy space who offered some advice in regard to project development.