DELOREAN CORPORATION LTD (DEL) -How Delorean Turns Waste Into Biomethane For Australian Industry

Electrification gets most of the headlines, but what happens when an industry needs constant high-temperature heat and the equipment is built for gas? That’s where biomethane and renewable gas infrastructure start to look less like a niche and more like a missing piece of Australia’s decarbonisation plan.

We’re joined by Joe Oliver, Managing Director of Delorean Corporation Limited, to explain how Delorean turns organic waste into renewable energy and why the company is shifting from being known for engineering into becoming a build-own-operate bioenergy infrastructure owner. Joe walks us through the NSW1 Horsley Park final investment decision, including the $30.5 million in non-dilutive grant funding, the 25-year lease and gas offtake agreement with Brickworks, and why the integrated behind-the-meter model can deliver de-risked, infrastructure-style contracted cash flow.

We also dig into the real-world “hard-to-abate” problem for sectors like brick and glass manufacturing and why biomethane is a practical substitute for natural gas that can work with existing infrastructure. With green gas demand rising fast due to corporate targets and regulatory pressure, Joe outlines the current supply-demand gap in Australia and what corporate and technical catalysts to watch over the next 12 months, from financial close through to construction milestones, first gas and first revenue, alongside progress on SA1 and the broader project pipeline.

If you found this useful, subscribe to ASX Briefs, share this episode with a colleague following renewable gas and bioenergy, and leave us a review. What’s the biggest barrier you see to scaling biomethane in Australia?

Transcript

Andrew Musgrave

Welcome again to ASX Briefs, the podcast bringing you quick, insightful conversations with the leaders of ASX Listed companies. And today we're joined again by Joe Oliver, the Managing Director of Delorean Corporation Limited, a leader in the Australian bioenergy sector that is pioneering the transition to renewable gas through its sophisticated build-owned operator infrastructure model. 

Joe, thanks for joining me again and welcome back to the ASX Briefs podcast.

Joe Oliver

Thank you for having me, Andrew. It's great to be on.

Andrew Musgrave

Now, Joe, it's been a while since we last spoke, but for our listeners who might be new to the Delorean story, can you just provide a brief overview of the company?

Joe Oliver

Yeah, absolutely. So, Delorean is a vertically integrated bioenergy infrastructure company, and we're focused on turning organic waste into renewable energy. So, we operate across the full life cycle from project development and engineering through to construction, ownership, and operation of bioenergy assets. And historically, we've been known for our engineering capability, but over the past few years, we've been strategically transitioning towards owning and operating the infrastructure that we've built for third parties. So, our core focus now is building a portfolio of long-life bioenergy assets that generate renewable gas, which is underpinned by contracted revenue streams. And this sits at the sort of intersection of two major growth sectors. So renewable energy and especially focused around gas, but also waste management. And this positions us to play a key role in Australia's transition to a circular low-carbon economy, effectively.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and you've just reached a major milestone this week with the final investment decision for the NSW1 Horsley Park facility, backed by a $30.5 million grant from the New South Wales government and ARENA. And with a 25-year lease and off-take agreement in place with Brickworks, how does this specific project serve as the blueprint for Delorian’s future utility scale assets?

Joe Oliver

Yeah, great, great question. So New South Wales 1 is an absolutely a blueprint project for us. So, it brings together all of the elements. So, we've replicated this from our South Australia 1 project, but it's our second 100% owned build-own operate model that enables a high-quality industrial partner such as Brickworks with long-term contracted revenue through a 25-year lease and gas offtake and strong government support, which totalled over $30.5 million in grants from both the New South Wales government and the federal government. So importantly, it's a fully integrated solution. It's taking waste, converting it into biomethane, and supplying that energy direct behind the meter to an industrial user on site. So that structure significantly de-risks the project and provides long-term infrastructure-style earnings. So, for us, New South Wales 1 isn't just a single project, it's the continuation of the template that we intend to roll out across multiple sites nationally.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and beyond New South Wales, your SA1 project in South Australia is already progressing towards a 2026 revenue start. So, as you manage multiple capital-intensive projects simultaneously, how is the company ensuring execution discipline to transition these developments into steady recurring cash flow?

Joe Oliver

Absolutely. So, you know, execution discipline is critical for us at this stage. So, we've built the team to enable that. And we've built the model where we leverage our in-house engineering capability to maintain control over design, cost, and delivery. So, this is what we've done with third parties, and we're bringing that into our own infrastructure. So, you know, we feel we're a key differentiator. You know, at the same time, we're being very deliberate in how we sequence these projects. So, ensuring each one is appropriately funded, contracted, and de-risked before moving into construction. So, from a capital perspective, we're aligning funding structures to each project, typically combining grant funding, debt, and equity while maintaining a clear focus on returns and balance sheet strength. And the objective for us is to transition these projects into operational assets as efficiently as possible so they are being generating stable, recurring cash flows. That's where we see the real value is created across the business.

Andrew Musgrave

Okay, and we often hear about electrification, but many heavy industries like brick or glass manufacturing require high intensity thermal energy. So, why is biomethane the missing piece for these hard to abate sectors? And how significant is the supply-demand gap for green gas in Australia right now?

Joe Oliver

Yeah, so look, electrification will play a major role in decarbonisation. That's very clear. But it doesn't solve everything, you know, particularly for the industries that require high temperature, continuous thermal energy like brick, glass, and food processing. And that's where biomethane comes in. So, it's a direct substitute for natural gas, meaning it can be used in existing infrastructure without any major modifications which is a huge advantage. And that was one of the main drivers for Brickworks in this case. And then in terms of supply and demand there's a significant gap in Australia right now. Demand for green gas is driven both by corporate decarbonisation targets and regulatory pressure. So, it's grown rapidly, but the supply is still very limited. So, this is where you know we see that imbalance is a major opportunity for Delorean, and we've effectively building the infrastructure that's needed to supply to that market the green gas that that we're seeing. And there's been a lot of positions around hydrogen, and this is a direct displacement of natural fossil fuel gas, and it really enables this market to move forward in replace of hydrogen where we are commercially viable in a bioenergy biomethane perspective.

Andrew Musgrave

All right, Joe. Now finally, with the non-dilutive grant funding significantly de-risking the NSW1 build, what are the primary corporate and technical catalysts shareholders should be looking out for over the next 12 months as the company moves closer to commissioning its first major owned assets?

Joe Oliver

Yeah, so look, the next 12 months are very important for us as a business. You know, the key near-term catalyst is achieving financial close on New South Wales 1, which we expect in the in the coming couple of months. And this will allow us to move into construction. From there, it's about execution. So, progressing the build and moving towards first gas and revenue. But in parallel, we continue to advance our broader pipeline including the completion and operation of our South Australia 1 project and looking to bring additional opportunities through to FID using a similar model. So, for us, SA1, bringing that into processing waste, generating first gas is very key for us. But more broadly, you know, shareholders should expect continued momentum across funding, project development, and potential new project announcements as well that we've got on. And that's as we you know continue to build out our portfolio of long life, income-generating infrastructure assets. And you know, ultimately, the focus is transitioning Delorean into a scaled infrastructure owner with predictable recurring earnings. And New South Wales is the second major step in that journey behind the South Australia 1 project.

Andrew Musgrave

All right, Joe. Well, very positive signs for the company. So, thanks for your time again, and we look forward to further updates from Delorean in the upcoming months.

Joe Oliver

Thank you for having me, Andrew. Really good to get the Delorean message out there.

Andrew Musgrave

That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe, and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.