Heath McBain leads new team with two decades of experience working in the gas industry
Kalfresh Bioenergy, an Australian grower-led 24/7 renewable energy solution, has appointed its inaugural executive general manager, Heath McBain, who joins with more than two decades of experience working in the gas industry.
He is one of a number of new strategic appointments for Kalfresh Bioenergy, which is delivering its first renewable energy project at Kalbar in the Scenic Rim.
McBain joined Kalfresh from Origin Energy, where he most recently served as general manager of integrated gas and asset services.
He is responsible for overseeing the successful delivery, scale-up and operation of the Kalfresh Bioenergy Facility, which will convert food waste and farm residues into renewable gas and fertiliser.
Kalfresh CEO Richard Gorman said McBain has the leadership, experience and vision required to deliver a project which integrates agriculture and energy.
“Heath is the perfect fit for the job, with more than 20 years’ experience in large-scale energy and infrastructure projects, both in Australia and the United States,” Gorman said.
“He has worked for Shell, and most recently Origin, where he led a team of 250 people in roles spanning engineering, construction, procurement, drilling, logistics and maintenance.
“Heath was raised on a farm in Victoria and subsequently understands both the challenges and opportunities across the agriculture and energy industries. We are pleased that Heath is leading our bioenergy team.
“With our co-investors Wollemi Capital and the Queensland Investment Corporation, we have a scale up plan that would see the company produce commercial volumes of sovereign gas and fertiliser. Renewable gas is versatile and has applications across industry and transport.”
Stage 1A of the Kalbar Bioenergy Facility is under construction, targeting a mid-2027 operational date. It will be the centrepiece of the new Scenic Rim Agricultural Industrial Precinct, an Australian first-of-its-kind project, where tenants will have access to renewable power and gas, distributed via an embedded network.
McBain said the bioenergy project presented an opportunity to demonstrate that sustainable energy production can be both profitable and beneficial to farmers, the community and the environment.
“Kalfresh Bioenergy combines three things that I love and have spent my life working on or around: agriculture, energy and great people,” McBain said.
“This is an opportunity to join an early-stage venture and help shape an exciting emerging industry in Australia. My focus initially will be on securing the partnerships necessary to make the Kalbar Bioenergy facility the leading renewable gas facility in Australia.”
McBain heads a new team of experienced energy and construction industry specialists.
Andreas Nienaber joined Kalfresh Bioenergy in August as project director and has 10 years of international experience in the bioenergy sector, having delivered similar projects across Europe, the UK and North America.
Most recently he’s managed the construction of bioenergy projects including Bio-CNG refuelling stations and CO2 liquefaction units in Europe.
Alexander Vogelsang joined Kalfresh Bioenergy as development and operations director after consulting the company for the past seven years where he led the preparation work identifying and modelling local feedstocks and the plant design.
Vogelsang is a process engineer with extensive experience designing, commissioning and operating bioenergy projects in Germany and Australia, and has now joined Kalfresh Bioenergy as a permanent staff member.
Harrison Slogrove is Kalfresh Bioenergy’s first commercial manager, relocating from Townsville, where he was previously the operations manager with Wilmar Sugar.
Slogrove will drive the development of commercial offtake and feedstock partnerships and agreements.
Environmental planning is being led by Sam Redman, who most recently worked with Epic Environmental, where he was responsible for leading the planning approvals for the Scenic Rim Agricultural Industrial Precinct.
Prior to that Redman worked with the Office of the Coordinator-General.
“People are at the heart of Kalfresh’s business and in recruiting these outstanding performers, we are confident they can help us realise the potential this project offers for farmers, our community and for the environment,” Gorman said.
“We have built a strong and experienced team who together will deliver a unique, agricultural bioenergy project at scale, that will demonstrate how food and energy production can co-exist.”
