Bagasse is the fibrous material left over after sugarcane has been crushed to remove its sweet juice. We use it to produce renewable energy to power our sugar mills and supply the Queensland electricity grid. Our mills produce about five million tonnes of bagasse each year. We use it to produce 620,000 megawatt hours of renewable electricity each year.
At each of our mills, bagasse is fed into the boilers and burned at temperatures of more than 800˚C to produce steam. The steam drives turbines for the milling process and generates electricity for the site.
We manage stockpiles of bagasse at each of our mills. One large stockpile of bagasse is capable of powering up to 2,000 homes for a year and can produce more electrical energy than 90 of South Australia’s giant lithium batteries.