Tasmanian Government Announces Up to $12.5 Million in Support for Westbury BioHub
On Saturday, the Tasmanian Government announced support of up to $12.5 million for the Westbury BioHub through the Waste and Resource Recovery Board.
The BioHub is a proposed renewable gas facility at Westbury in Northern Tasmania, jointly developed by Optimal Renewable Gas and Solstice Energy. It would use anaerobic digestion to turn agricultural and agri-industrial residues into biomethane and organic fertiliser, with the biomethane injected into Tasmania’s existing gas network.
Based on the current design, the BioHub is expected to process around 36,000 tonnes of organic residues each year. From that, it would produce around 188 TJ of biomethane and 12,000 tonnes of organic fertiliser annually, while reducing emissions by around 13,300 tonnes of CO₂-e a year.
The State support is performance-based, with payments tied to verified processing of organic material after the facility is commissioned rather than provided as an upfront construction grant.
This is an important step for a proposed $50 million investment in Northern Tasmania. The project is still in development and will need to go through engineering, environmental and planning assessment and a Final Investment Decision before construction can start.
Thank you to the Tasmanian Government, the Waste and Resource Recovery Board, the Solstice Energy team and everyone involved in Saturday’s announcement.
Learn more about the project: Solstice Energy
