The Albanese Government recently announced that Manildra Group’s Shoalhaven Starches food manufacturing facility in Bomaderry will receive a $44.45 million helping hand to undergo energy efficiency upgrades thanks to the Powering the Regions Fund. 

The fund will allocate $330 million in total across nine clean energy and emissions and reduction projects at heavy industrial sites around the country. One of those sites being Shoalhaven Starches, which processes wheat to produce flour. The Bomaderry facility also produces gluten, starch, ethanol, animal stockfeed and syrups.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, believe the grants will future-proof Australia’s heavy industries in a decarbonising world, with nation-wide projects cutting 830,000 tonnes of emissions annually. This equates to removing over a quarter of a million cars from Australian roads.

Federal Member for Gilmore, Fiona Phillips, explained that the goal of the Shoalhaven Starches project is to recover heat to enable transformative emission reductions.

“The project will deploy a suite of heat recovery upgrades and enabling infrastructure to reduce gas demand,” she said.

“It’s estimated that emissions will be reduced by 95,266 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per annum.”

Mrs Phillips also praised the project for creating new jobs during construction and securing existing roles at the plant, which will continue to support local families and the community. Shoalhaven Starches has 510 employees and 400 independent contractors. Additionally, upward of 80 temporary jobs will be created during the project.