Waste-to-energy company Remondis plans to build a $400 million energy-from-waste (EfW) facility in Swanbank, south of Ipswich.
It establishes Queensland as a major player in the waste‑to‑energy market, state development, manufacturing, infrastructure and planning minister Cameron Dick says.
“The proposed plant will convert between 300,000 and 500,000 tonnes of waste per year to generate up to 50 megawatts of baseload electricity for Queensland households and businesses,” he says.
That’s enough to power up to 50,000 homes, which could also encourage electric vehicle uptake.
“The introduction of our government’s waste levy provides a real incentive for projects like this, building a new industry as an alternative to landfill,” Dick says.
“This announcement follows the Palaszczuk Government’s commitment of $100 million to the Resource Recovery Industry Development Program, which further attracts resource recovery operations that will divert waste from landfill toward more valuable uses.”
It joins the state’s $4.3 billion pipeline of renewable projects financially committed or underway.
Queensland aims for 50% renewable energy by 2030.
Remondis Queensland general manager Bret Collins says the company has been encouraged by recent comments from governments across Australia that EfW technology could provide some relief to the challenges facing the waste management and recycling industry.
The company has 24 years’ experience in building and operating EfW technologies and is the second largest operator of energy-from-waste plants in Europe.
“Our 52 facilities recover energy from more than 4.2 million tonnes of waste per annum and we trade our own electricity into the European grid,” Collins says.
Remondis Australia is expected to submit an application to Queensland’s independent Coordinator-General to declare the project a ‘coordinated project’ to help streamline approvals and fast-track delivery.
Construction could start in 2020.
