Waste plant developer locks in supply deal

The private consortium planning a $400 million waste-to-energy plant in Rockingham has signed a 20-year supply agreement with the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council and been selected as the preferred tenderer by the City of Cockburn for a similar supply deal.

The group, led by Swiss company Hitachi Zosen Inova with local partner New Energy Corporation and international investor Tribe Infrastructure Group, has struck a deal whereby participating councils will supply waste on a ‘waste arising basis’.

Under this agreement, councils will only pay for the capacity they use, as opposed to the alternative ‘take or pay’ method, which can lead to financial penalties if volume targets are not met.

The HZI plant is to be built in East Rockingham and will convert 330,000 tonnes of waste into around 28 megawatts of baseload electricity, which is enough to power 36,000 homes.

New Energy chairman Enzo Gullotti said the group supported waste minimisation and composting.

“It’s an important part of our social licence to operate our resource recovery facility over the long term,” he said

“We’ll deliver the EMRC the best possible environmental outcome for residual waste streams and certainty of price over the period of the contract.

“This presents a real opportunity to divert waste from landfill and deliver value for money to the ratepayers of the EMRC councils.”

Meanwhile, the group was also recently chosen as preferred tenderer for a 20-year waste supply agreement with the City of Cockburn.

City of Cockburn spokesman Mr Lyall Davieson said the process was environmentally favourable to landfill in that valuable materials were converted for energy production.

“There is also potential for the city to purchase the electricity produced by processing waste,” he said.