A “green energy” company that was just handed tens of million of dollars in taxpayer funding for a thermal solar plant in South Australia will be wound up after collapsing into administration, with at least one site now an abandoned eyesore.
Vast Renewables last year received $21.5 million in federal government grants for the solar plant in Port Augusta, $42 million from the German and Australian governments for a solar methanol project, and an estimated $5 million for a now half-demolished concentrated solar power project in Jemalong, NSW, in 2012.
The company, founded by the billionaire Kahlbetzer family in 2009 and based in Sydney with its main manufacturing facility in Goodna, Brisbane, was put into voluntary administration in November with debts of about $79 million, and 50 employees have already been made redundant.
KPMG administrators Peter Gothard and Amanda Coneyworth this week proposed creditors accept a deed of company arrangement (DOCA) selling off Vast’s assets and transferring its intellectual property to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, which holds a claim of $24.5 million against the company, The Australian Business Network reported.
Unsecured creditors will get back an estimated 3.2 to 4.2 cents on the dollar, according to KPMG estimates, compared to an estimated 1.6 to 2.9 cents if Vast was liquidated.
“The primary purpose of the proposed DOCA is to provide participating creditors with a better outcome than what would be achieved in a liquidation scenario,” a report from the administrators states.
Locals living near the Jemalong site near Forbes in the NSW Central West said last week the debris-strewn abandoned site was a fire, contamination, and safety risk, The Dubbo News reported.
Jemalong Rural Fire Service Captain David Stewart, whose family property adjoins the half-demolished plant, said there was a fire in December, and called the whole site an unmanaged industrial hazard.
“This isn’t just an eyesore,” he said.
“It’s a genuine risk to surrounding farms and to the wider Jemalong community. We’ve already seen what can happen here with specialised materials and fires.
”This was sold to the community as the future of clean energy, but now it feels like we’ve been left with the mess.”
After the December fire Mr Stewart shared a video of the damage, including smashed glass that he suspected started the fire, and said: “They were warned this was going to happen, and this is the result. Just remember, this is your money, people, how much longer are we going to put up with this?”
Vast made a loss of $4.65 million in 2024-25, according to the company’s financial report, down from $294 million a year earlier, and states it “relied to a significant extent on government funding, in the form of grants” to develop its “clean fuels” technology.
In addition to the 30MW Port Augusta Aurora Energy renewable energy hub project, which received total funding promises of $180 million, Vast had also planned a second power plant combining solar, battery and gas turbines for “24 hour clean energy”, and was co-developing a battery storage energy system for the plant.
Header image: Left, right, the Jemalong plant in operation and after the December fire (Vast Renewables, David Stewart – Facebook).
