I haven't been on here for a little while so apologies if this has already been discussed.
Just flicking through ABC this afternoon and I stumbled across the below article talking about Waste-to-Energy (WTE) in Ballarat. While not directly related to ECT, it nonetheless indicates that the appetite for WTE in Victoria is far greater than thermal coal value-add techs. For someone who has been following ECT for circa 8 years, the key issue always seemed to be that promoting the use of coal, value-add or not, always felt like a hard sell. WTE feels different.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-28/ballarat-one-of-best-places-for-waste-to-energy-so-why-stalled/11452166Additionally, I'd be interested to know if we are getting involved with the Circular Economy Policy (Victoria). If you have a look at the link below, the Vic gov talks about the Circular Economy Policy building "on Victoria's leading waste and resource recovery initiatives" and response to global recycling market challenges.
https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/sustainability/circulareconomyI know we are back in a ECT dark period following yet another letdown, and I know I've felt like this before, but this time it really does feel different. For once there will be a popular push by the general and environmentally conscious public for ECT to succeed. Now, this is just my opinion, but there has never really been political pressure to deliver on value-add coal techs such as Coldry in Victoria. That's why ALDP fell over and that's why we were pushed to do business in the business-unfriendly India.
Initially, I was fairly critical of how WTE was integrated into the suspension earlier this year, noting it felt more like a deliberate distraction, designed to draw investors' attention away from disappointing news in India. And while I do feel like this may have been the case regarding timing, I think WTE could be the key to ECT's commercial success. Whilst a simplistic idea, if coal-based value-add couldn't gain traction, why not pivot to something more palatable (e.i. WTE), pick up profits from that while concurrently demonstrating coldry/mator. This could finally be the path to commercialisation we have all been looking for.
Anyway the Circular Economy Policy is due out "later in 2019" so I'll be keeping an eye on this and whether ECT have taken any steps to be involved with Victoria's WTE future.
All IMO
(20min delay)