SA Economy

[rev]

Balco unveils plans for $15m-plus hay processing plant at Monarto
Hay processor Balco will invest more than $15m in a new facility at Monarto, creating dozens of jobs, as it looks to capitalise on a surge in global demand.

Giuseppe Tauriello
@gtauriello
2 min read
September 16, 2024 - 4:54PM
The Australian Business Network

Hay processor Balco Australia will invest more than $15m in a new facility at Monarto and open a head office in Adelaide as the company looks to capitalise on a surge in global demand for Australian produce.

Backed by major shareholder Shanghai Yanhua Biotech, Balco has secured a 157ha greenfield site for the new processing and storage facility, which will add 100,000 tonnes of processing capacity to the company’s network.

It will become the company’s fourth processing plant in Australia and cement Balco’s position as one of the country’s largest exporters of oaten hay.

Balco chief executive Rob Lawson said the investment came amid a “major growth phase” for the company.

“There is strong demand for high quality Australian hay across the world and we’re looking to capitalise on the opportunity,” he said.

“We’re on track to sell 270,000 tonnes of oaten hay this year, up from 190,000 tonnes last year.

“With the addition of a Monarto facility and continued expansion of our other existing plants, our future annual processing capacity will extend to 400,000 tonnes.


Balco’s Bowmans hay plant, west of Balaklava. Picture: Supplied by Balco

“Dairy industries across Asia seek Balco hay to feed their cattle – from Japan and China through to emerging markets in Vietnam, Indonesia and the Middle East. We hold a positive outlook and we’re investing for the long term to position

Balco as a leading supplier to the global agriculture industry well into the future.”

The new facility at Monarto is expected to create more than 20 jobs in the region once it becomes operational in about two years.

Mr Lawson said it would enable more growers in the South East to add hay to their crop rotations.

Meanwhile, Balco is also looking to consolidate its administration and management operations to a new head office in Adelaide.

As part of this transition, the company’s existing head office in Balaklava will be closed, along with its current office in Adelaide.

Most of the 20 staff working at the Balaklava site will be offered the opportunity to relocate to the new Adelaide office or the company’s Bowmans processing site. The company said a small number of Balaklava-based roles would be made redundant.

“Our field teams will continue to work closely with our growers in the region and we will be expanding our Bowmans office,” Mr Lawson said.

Balco operates three processing facilities at Bowmans – 15km west of Balaklava – Brookton in WA and Raywood in Victoria, employing a total workforce of 150.

Last November the company and Chinese partner Bright Farming signed a 10-year-deal worth$100m to supply oaten hay to China, while earlier in 2023 it expanded into Victoria with the $15m purchase of the Raywood facility.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/subscrib ... nt-1-SCORE

[SouthAussie94]

Yes, no shit, I posted some articles about the cost of electricity. They were in relation to businesses. You know without businesses, we pretty much don't have much of an economy.



What would YOU do Southaussie93 to fix things?
You asked me, yet didn't tell us what you would do.

Here's your chance..

I believe the answer to that is:

I'm not your elected representative. Try asking them and then report back to us here with what they've said.

But this is a place for discussion, not for petty arguments, so I'd probably:

Not build a nuclear power plant, that ship sailed a long time ago. Small modular nuclear reactors are an unproven technology.

Increase subsidies for low income earners to reduce the impact of high electricity prices on them. In suitable locations maybe subsidies the cost of battery storage and solar panels for low income earners.

Continue the role out of large scale wind and solar projects with battery storage included in the scope of the projects.

Fast track the closure of fossil fuel generators.

Yes, this will likely result in higher prices in the short term, hence the subsidies for low income earners, but would likely result in lower prices in the future.

The fact that banks/superannuation funds/etc are making steps to move away from fossil fuels should be enough to show what the future of energy generation is. These companies don't have morals or emotions. They do what is the best for their investments over the longer time frame.

Ultimately it's money and investment that drives the economy...

[Norman]

I would look at subsidising the cost of purchasing and installing battery storage in homes, capped at a certain sustainable amount to avoid the pink batts disaster over a decade ago. Low income households should be prioritised in that scheme. People who already have a battery installed could have a second one added to their array, reducing the load to the grid even further.

[PD2/20]

I find the market process that sets the spot price quite bizarre, that the last bidder sets the price for everyone, and can bid a ridiculous price for a small contribution.

I presume this market system developed to ensure there is never a shortage, but the possibility of huge wholesale price spikes means that wholesale customers and retailers have to be prepared to pay for that spike.

Maybe large commercial customers can negotiate directly with generators to supply their demand, as the factory/processing plant load can be predicted well, and something can be turned off for a couple of hours if they do happen to outstrip the contract. For the rest of the wholesale customers, we need a system without price spikes. Presumably someone in AEMO or the "peaking generator" operators knows what are the drivers for silly prices, but it doesn't get talked about.

Is electricity supply distinguished by the requirement to balance supply and demand in each dispatch interval and by the marked variation in demand levels over various timescales? There has to be in the system sufficient generation to meet peak demand which is only called on infrequently. It could be argued that the current bidding system reflects the significant value of the last MW in avoiding the cost of underserved demand and 'keeping the lights on'. In electricity supply the output of multiple generators (with varied prices) is aggregated in a common transmission and distribution network before reaching consumers. Generally industrial and commercial tariffs are peak demand based so as to give an incentive to reduce the peak capacity needed.

The question remains: is the high overall cost of electricity in SA due to high wholesale prices or to other cost components? Looking at the AEMO data I have noticed that, despite marked differences in the proportion of renewables across states, often wholesale prices are closely aligned.

[rubberman]

I'd add that batteries could be useful for load shiftimg from the daytime when wholesale prices can go negative due to excess solar input even if customers have no solar panels.

For example, a block of units might not have enough roof space for solar panels. However, they could still soak up energy during the day and release it at night.

I suspect that at the moment, even though prices are somewhat higher at night, the tariff bands are very clunky and don't necessarily provide enough incentive for unit owners to consider. Even if they are sophisticated users, it's not really attractive, and unsophisticated users aren't thinking about it. Or they are landlords, and it's not seen as their problem.

There are a lot of units in this situation, so policy changes are worth looking at. That could include tariffs much more closely aligned to daily cost variations, so consumers can see the benefits of rescheduling their load. At the moment, once you hit peak tariff, you might as well switch on if you have to. However, if you knew that you could save by delaying by an hour for a slightly lower price, you might change your behaviour.

Then, perhaps the network charges could be billed to landlords, rather than tenants. Tenants then pay only for usage. In this model, the landlord would pay a smaller network charge if the premises has batteries...controlled by the network operator. The landlord could then decide whether to pass on the cost or not. However, if the reduced network charges were less, the landlord could profit. Now, of course, this is where the numbers have to be crunched to see what is feasible.

Finally, there needs to be a lot more information out there for apartment owners. At the moment, batteries are only on the horizon in limited cases.

[rev]

I would look at subsidising the cost of purchasing and installing battery storage in homes, capped at a certain sustainable amount to avoid the pink batts disaster over a decade ago. Low income households should be prioritised in that scheme. People who already have a battery installed could have a second one added to their array, reducing the load to the grid even further.

I'm a big believer as I've posted before, that government should be heavily subsidising this, as well as solar panels, if not entirely funding it.

If the move is to subsidise it more, then it should be a two tiered system.
Locally produced solar panels and batteries, by a locally owned company, receive a higher subsidy.
Foreign produced solar panels and batteries, or those produced by foreign owned companies, receive a lower subsidy.

Not only would that help more people with the cost of living crisis, it would also benefit the manufacturing economy.
It could even spur on private investment into developing more efficient panels, and more efficient/smaller batteries etc.

[Norman]

Solar panels and batteries are a lot like buses. The only input we have locally is the assembly, the bulk of the work is done overseas. In the case of solar and batteries, that's China. They have managed to get to an efficiency we will never get to.

There is some work being done here in developing batteries that are not based on lithium iron, so that could be a small glimmer of hope for future manufacturing.

[rev]

Solar panels and batteries are a lot like buses. The only input we have locally is the assembly, the bulk of the work is done overseas. In the case of solar and batteries, that's China. They have managed to get to an efficiency we will never get to.

There is some work being done here in developing batteries that are not based on lithium iron, so that could be a small glimmer of hope for future manufacturing.

Thats kind of what I meant, not just production here but future innovation.
For example everyone's been focused on electric vehicles, meanwhile Toyota went off and developed hydrogen fuel cell powered cars that can be refuelled I believe in considerably less time then it takes to recharge an EV.
We have Tonsley innovation hub, and Lot14, I think this is where the government should be working with allied countries like Japan to collaborate on innovation. I reckon that would bring significant investments, and potentially put us on the map. Nobody thinks (or knows) of Adelaide outside of Australia, in terms of business or economy, it's a brand, an image thing. Everyone knows of Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane even.

[Waewick]

Hydrogen cars aren't close to being a reality and more than likely won't be.

I think the frustrating thing is we had the private sector screaming at the Govt in the early 00s and beyond to he leaders in the develoment technology, we chose to go down the coal and gas path.

I know we have plans to catch up, but it feels far too late to compete with China, who are now pumping out insane battery tech and cheap solar panels and cars

[rev]

https://www.toyota.com.au/mirai

[Waewick]

https://www.toyota.com.au/mirai

Yes 1 car, from 1 car brand with sales continuing to fall.

I get it, some people are just anti EV and are desperately pushing this stuff, but it's highly unlikely Hydrogen cars make up any significant number of passengers cars.

Hydrogen might be okay in heavy industry, but even BHP is going with electric haul trucks because the technology is there and proven.

But full credit to Toyota for developing the tech, I'm sure it will find uses.

[abc]

curious article about EVs in China

https://www.news.com.au/technology/moto ... 29e327d6cf

[Waewick]

https://thedriven.io/2024/09/18/catl-un ... -warranty/

Just to make the point about battery tech. It's constantly improving and the inefficiencies of Hydrogen cars are going to need to be improved very quickly if they are to compete with thrle roll out of EVs


I do acknowledge however a lot of this anti-ev stuff is ideological, once you start just looking at it for what it is, that technological improvements, its a bit easier to accept what is happening and be impressed by what is going on.

[rubberman]

https://thedriven.io/2024/09/18/catl-un ... -warranty/

Just to make the point about battery tech. It's constantly improving and the inefficiencies of Hydrogen cars are going to need to be improved very quickly if they are to compete with thrle roll out of EVs


I do acknowledge however a lot of this anti-ev stuff is ideological, once you start just looking at it for what it is, that technological improvements, its a bit easier to accept what is happening and be impressed by what is going on.

In Australia, it's not a big problem as I see it. People will generally buy cars for all sorts of reasons...and hate on them similarly. Remember the Ford vs Holden hate in the 1970s.

Add to that, people would spend extra money on a car or brand for zero real reason other than emotion.

Thus, if someone wants to spend money on an EV, or ICE, it's usually no more substantial than those 1970s Holden vs Ford hate fests. Storm, meet teacup.

What does make me chuckle though is the situation in the US. In that market, because of politics, it's all about who you support politically. There's a consequence though for the US. Because the market is potentially halved, the US is disadvantaged relative to China. Chinese automakers are out-investing, and now outselling US companies. China is now producing cars with equivalent quality, and superior technology...and is outselling the US worldwide. Tesla is still one of the biggest, but when you add the greater number of Chinese manufacturers, China wins. Not only is China winning, but it has a much bigger variety of EVs to suit different market niches.

Chinese EVs are not only approaching ICE prices, but outperforming them in many performance measures.

It's head shaking that many American so-called 'patriots' have enabled Chinese ascendency in vehicle production.

[rev]

This is about the South Australian economy, and innovation, investment, new high tech industries and manufacturing, and jobs.