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Project to Convert 20,000 Tons of Waste to Energy Wins Regulator Approval in Melbourne

Project to Convert 20,000 Tons of Waste to Energy Wins Regulator Approval in Melbourne

(Bloomberg) --

The environmental regulator of Australia’s Victoria state has approved a project in the Melbourne suburbs that will convert 200,000 tons of household waste into electricity.

Recovered Energy Australia can now start work on its Laverton North plant, an approval that extends the pipeline of waste-to-energy projects in the country. Last month, Spain’s Acciona SA announced it would proceed with a A$511 million ($350 million) facility in Western Australia with financial backing from the government’s green bank.

The Clean Energy Finance Corp. sees potential for up to A$5 billion of investments in bio-energy generation projects in coming years as the country plays catch up with the rest of the world in developing the technology. Projects have been hampered by the difficulty in getting waste feedstock contracted because it tends to be spread across local councils that can’t offer the necessary scale.

CEFC has committed up to A$57.5 million in debt funding for Acciona’s East Rockingham project. Separately, the Spanish company is contractor for the A$700 million Kwinana waste-to-energy plant, also in Western Australia, which is due to be completed in late 2021. The group is also developing a 400 million euro waste-to-energy plant in Aberdeen, Scotland.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Thornhill in Sydney at jthornhill3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net, Jasmine Ng

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