ACCIONA to build Australia’s first large-scale thermal Waste to Energy plant

A first of its kind in Australia, the approximately $700 million project will be located in the Kwinana Industrial Area 40km south of Perth. It will process up to 400,000 tonnes a year of waste using best practice technologies and processes, exporting an estimated 36MW of electricity to the grid – enough to power around 50,000 households.

ACCIONA’s Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with the project developer – a Macquarie Capital and Phoenix Energy Joint Venture – includes a 36-month construction period starting in October 2018. During the construction phase, more than 800 jobs will be created. The operation and maintenance phase will create around 60 new permanent positions.

The project builds on ACCIONA’s long-term investment in Australia, and will involve a mix of domestic and international knowhow. The company has previously constructed several power generation plants overseas, including waste process and incinerating facilities, and is well-known for its EPC expertise.

Bede Noonan, ACCIONA Geotech’s Managing Director, said: “This is a landmark project for WA and our country as a whole. Waste to Energy is an underexploited technology in Australia, and it’s great to see Phoenix Energy, with the support of Macquarie Capital, developing the first large-scale plant here. We will bring the best of our local and global knowledge to the construction, and are working with some great partners who also have highly specialised skills.”

ACCIONA’s consortium to design, build, operate and maintain the facility includes operations and maintenance partner Veolia, a global leader in optimised resource management. ACCIONA’s internal resources comprise ACCIONA Industrial, marking its second contract in the country after its recent deal to build the Lilyvale solar farm in Queensland, and John Beever Australia, a leading Australian mechanical engineering company that is part of the Geotech Group, in which ACCIONA invested in early 2017.