Western Australian industry will start to be powered by its own waste, with the approval of Australia’s second energy-from-waste plant in Rockingham Industrial Zone, Western Australia.
The East Rockingham Resource Recovery Facility (ERRRF) will take 300,000 tonnes of non-recyclable materials, including 65,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial residual waste.
Built by a consortium, the ERRRF will cost $511 million, and is supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) with $18 million in recoupable grant funding. The project also received up to $57.5 million in subordinated debt from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
According to ARENA acting CEO, Nicola Morris, the completion of this facility could enable other sites to follow in its wake.
“As the second state-of-the-art energy from waste facility in the country, East Rockingham represents a progression along the pathway towards commercialisation for the sector. The project will be delivered by a consortium with global expertise which will drive competition in the Australian market.
“We expect this project to demonstrate that large scale metropolitan energy-from-waste plants are now a bankable asset class in Australia,” said Morris.
Once completed, the facility will provide 29 MW of baseload electricity capacity, equivalent to the power needs of 36,000 homes.
Waste will also be sourced from the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council and the City of Cockburn.
The ERRRF will be built by ACCIONA and Hitachi Zosen Inova Australia (HZI). Suez will supply the facility with industrial waste and operate the plant alongside HZI.
Bottom ash generated in the process of energy creation can then be used for road surfacing or other construction materials.
Western Australia acting Premier, Roger Cook, welcomed the news of the plants successful financial close.
“This is a project that ticks all the boxes – it creates jobs for local workers, reduces landfill and generates energy that can be used to power our homes and industry.”
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