Asia/Pacific News
New Zealand Biofuel Business Sold
New Zealand coal company Solid Energy has sold its biofuel business to a group including two of its managers, and the new owners plan to boost its production levels by some 66 percent, New Zealand newspaper The Press reports.
The company, which has been renamed Green Fuels, converts used cooking oil into biodiesel under the brand name Biogold.
The refinery, which previously employed six people, will now be run by two of the new owners, former fuel business manager Martin Johnson and former production manger Karl Hatton, who bought the company together with two silent partners.
Production at the refinery had dropped to about 600,000 liters per year, but Johnson said the owners plan to build it up to 1 million liters annually.
"Both Karl and I are passionate about making and supplying environmentally friendly fuels and when the opportunity came to purchase the business both of us jumped for it," Johnson said.
Former Solid Energy Chief Executive Don Elder has said biodiesel is no longer profitable because government subsidies for the fuel have ended.
"Biodiesel is a business we no longer believe we should be in and we want out as soon as possible," he said.
"Nobody knows better than us, coming from the industry, how hard it has been to make renewables economic."
In its 2012 annual report, Solid Energy reported that biodiesel sales volumes were down 11 percent to 1.8 million liters largely due to the expiration of government subsidies in May 2012, although it had planned to increase sales of the fuel to 3 million liters.
"Despite best endeavours and considerable investment, the business is not currently economic and this is likely to continue for some time," the company said in the report.
