Masdar acquires 40% stake in Australian waste-to-energy facility

Abu Dhabi: Masdar on Tuesday announced its first investment in Australia after acquiring a 40 per cent stake in the country’s second utility-scale waste-to-energy facility (WTE).

Under the terms of the investment, Masdar and leading Abu Dhabi advisory and development firm Tribe Infrastructure Group have invested in the waste-to-energy project via their Abu Dhabi Global Market-based joint venture holding company, Masdar Tribe Energy Holdings Limited.

Niall Hannigan, Chief Financial Officer of Masdar, and Peter McCreanor, Chief Executive Officer of Tribe Infrastructure Group, signed the joint venture holding company agreement today at ADSW, one of the world’s biggest sustainability gatherings being held in the capital this week.

Financial close on the A$511 million (Dh1.2 billion) greenfield East Rockingham Resource Recovery Facility, which will be located in the Rockingham Industry Zone, 40km south of Perth in Western Australia, was achieved on December 23, 2019, and construction has already started.

When completed, the East Rockingham Resource Recovery Facility will process 300,000 tonnes per year of non-recyclable municipal, commercial and industrial waste and up to 30,000 tonnes of biosolids per year.

The facility will also recover approximately 70,000 TPA of bottom ash, which will be processed for use in road bases and other construction materials. The WTE facility will generate 29 megawatts (MW) of baseload renewable energy, enough to power more than 36,000 homes, and displace more than 300,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

Equity investors in the project also include UK company John Laing Investments, alongside Acciona Concesiones and Hitachi Zosen INOVA (HZI).

“Extending our reach into Australia is an exciting step forward for Masdar’s clean energy operations and our efforts to expand the company’s global renewable energy portfolio, which now encompasses more than 30 countries,” said Mohammad Jameel Al Ramahi, chief executive officer of Masdar.

“The Australian waste-to-energy sector provides excellent commercial potential in the long-term,” he added.

“The problem of dealing with everyday waste is a global challenge, with more than 2 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste generated each year. To this end, we are proud to be helping the state of Western Australia to deliver clean sources of power generation and sustainably manage its municipal solid waste,” he said.

Under the EPC contract, Acciona will deliver the project in partnership with HZI. Construction is expected to take 35 months and the facility is slated to begin operations by the end of 2022. SUEZ will lead the operations and maintenance of the facility under a 20-year operations and maintenance contract in partnership with HZI.