What an off take agreement covers for refuse derived fuel
For a fuel plant, the off take agreement is the revenue. Here is what it has to settle, and why a funder reads it before anything else.
Why it comes first
A refuse derived fuel plant sells one product to a small number of industrial buyers. The agreement with those buyers is what a funder, a lender and an operator all read first, because it is where the plant's revenue and the kiln's fuel security are written down. AERC has no off take contract signed; this guide is the shape of the one it seeks.
What the agreement usually settles
- Specification. The fuel's energy value, moisture, particle size, ash and chlorine, as ranges, with the test method for each. The WBCSD guidelines describe the plant giving its suppliers a clear specification for the waste derived fuel it can use; the agreement is where that specification lives.
- Volume and term. Tonnes per month or year, minimums and maximums, and the length of the agreement. A plant designed for 7,500 tonnes of waste a day needs its output committed over years, not months.
- Delivery. Who transports, where title passes, storage at the kiln, and what happens when the kiln is down for maintenance.
- Testing and acceptance. How each delivery is sampled, who tests it, and what happens when a delivery is out of specification: rejection, a price adjustment, or a cure period.
- Price. The basis for it and how it moves. This guide does not quote figures; AERC quotes none until the specification and the volume exist.
- Permits and compliance. Which party holds which permit, and the environmental requirements the fuel and the kiln must meet. The Adelaide review names clear regulations and quality assurance as the conditions for wider use of waste derived fuels.
What a kiln operator should bring to the first conversation
- The kiln's current fuel mix and the share it could substitute.
- Its fuel specification limits, especially chlorine and moisture.
- Its receiving and storage capacity.
- The permit it holds, or would need, for alternative fuel.
AERC's fuel data sheet template is laid out so both sides fill the same columns.
Where AERC stands
Off takers are one of the four seats open. What they receive now is the fuel specification as it is defined, the planned output, and early discussion of supply terms. The off taker seat.
General information, checked 14 November 2026. Figures are quoted from the sources listed at the end; the source in force prevails. AERC is at concept stage: nothing here is an offer of securities or a promise of returns.