Waste-to-energy project gathers steam

The proponent of one of Perth’s three waste-to-energy plants is hopeful more local councils will commit to diverting waste from landfill towards the $400 million project, following a contractual agreement with a group of long-term supporters.

After 12 months of due diligence, the cities of Gosnells, Armadale, South Perth and Mandurah, and the shires of Serpentine-Jarrahdale and Murray have signed off on contracts to initially supply 220,000 tonnes of waste per year towards the Phoenix Energy waste-to-energy plant.

The six local governments, whose collective waste is looked after by the Rivers Regional Council, along with the City of Canning will now provide the bulk of waste to be processed at the Kwinana Beach facility, which is expected to process up to 400,000tpa.

Using Australia-first technology based on high temperature mass combustion, the plant will turn waste into power for up to 46,000 homes.

Phoenix Energy managing director Peter Dyson told Business News the plant also had initial 20,000tpa of committed waste contracts from the City of Kwinana and he was in discussions with other local governments.

“We’ve got the spare capacity in the early stages so we expect other councils might be interested in providing their waste as well. I can’t talk specifics, but there is a general interest in Western Australian councils now in waste-to-energy,” Mr Dyson said.

South Korean giant Posco has the contract with Phoenix to carry out the engineering, procurement and design of the plant, and has subcontracted some technical components to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Mr Dyson said construction on the plant was due to start in January 2016 and involve 800 workers, with a local civil construction company having been chosen by Posco, but not yet announced.

The plant, due to being operation in October 2018, will employ 60 people.

For more information on the development on waste-to-energy plants in Western Australia, click here.