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Eco Investor December 2015 Unlisted Companies New $200 Million Bioenergy FundThe Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has made available $100 million for a new Australian Bioenergy Fund to accelerate investment in the sector and unlock its potential. The Fund will be managed by the Foresight Group which is aiming raise over $200 million in equity. The Fund will invest in a wide range of projects across the agricultural, council, forestry and mining waste industries. Technologies of interest include: energy from waste, anaerobic digestion, sustainably sourced biomass-to-energy, landfill gas, the pelletization of forestry plantation waste, and biofuels. It will target equity investments in projects from $2 million to $100 million in size. CEFC chief executive, Oliver Yates said the Australian Bioenergy Fund can play an important role in accelerating the market uptake of bioenergy and energy from waste technologies that have a track record overseas but are not yet widely used in Australia's energy mix. "A number of projects that the CEFC has assessed have been held back by a lack of equity capital, and that needs to change. Converting waste from agricultural production, mining, forestry and landfill has the potential to lower business operating costs, reduce the reliance on grid electricity and create a more sustainable way to manage waste disposal," he said. In a new report titled The Australian Bioenergy and Energy from Waste Market, the CEFC estimates that Australia has the potential to double its bioenergy output over the next five years and provide an important energy from waste option for business and local governments. Australia is delivering just 0.9 per cent of our electricity output from bioenergy, which is well below the OECD average of 2.4 per cent, said Mr Yates. "Our own investment pipeline has identified about $3 billion of bioenergy sector projects that could be developed. Much of the opportunity in the sector consists of small-scale operations which have found it difficult to attract equity support and institutional investors." Established in 1984, Foresight is an independent UK infrastructure and private equity investment manager with over $3.25 billion of assets under management including around $1 billion through the Foresight Environmental Fund and two funds on behalf of the UK Green Investment Bank: UK Waste Resources and Energy Investment Fund, and Recycling and Waste LP. It recently launched a new biomass platform called Bioenergy Infrastructure Group with co-investment from UK environmental players. Foresight will establish an office in Sydney. Foresight partner Nigel Aitchison said "Having seen the success of similar funds mandated to invest in waste in the UK, Foresight is well positioned to implement a similar strategy in Australia where the market already has a strong appetite for investment in renewable energy."
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