Bioenergy

Bioenergy is sustainable energy produced from biomass, which is a general term for the material remains of once living organisms. Biomass includes agricultural crops, wood and wood by-products, fast-growing trees and plants, and industrial wastes. Burning this biomass creates the heat and steam that spins electricity-making turbines. Alternatively, biomass can be gasified and the gas used to power a gas turbine.

Bioenergy is a clean energy source that creates little or no net greenhouse emissions depending on the type of biomass and conversion technology used.

Verve Energy built a trial bioenergy plant in Narrogin in 1998. This innovative demonstration plant produced three products from locally grown mallees: renewable electricity, activated carbon and eucalyptus oil. It addressed global warming and farmland salinity; two of Australia's environmental concerns.