Victorian waste-to-energy plant gets thumbs up

A waste-to-energy (WtE) facility in Dandenong, Victoria, has been given the go-ahead after Great Southern Waste Technologies (GSWT), assisted by SMEC, gained environmental approval for its proposal.

Once complete, the plant will receive more than 100,000 tonnes of waste per year, eliminate over 100,000T of greenhouse gas emissions that would otherwise be generated in landfill and generate approximately 7.9 MW of baseload electricity to be fed into the grid.

The facility will implement gasification technology that has been developed and successfully implemented in Europe, accruing over 800,000 hours of continual operation and meeting strict European Union emission limits.

“Utilising this valuable resource through energy recovery offers a sustainable improvement to waste management services, whilst also reducing the overall greenhouse gas emissions and the potential environmental impacts associated with landfilling,” GSWT’s Craig Gilbert said.

Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) approval is the culmination of two years’ work involving a wide range of studies to assess potential environmental and human health impacts and support approval of the facility.

SMEC’s team delivered the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) and conducted studies including noise, air emissions, environmental risk, human health risk assessments and greenhouse gas lifecycle assessments, plus many more to ensure a considered, evidence-based proposal could be put to the EPA.

This is a significant outcome as only five of these plants have been approved in Australia. This approval reflects the dedication and capability of our team and SMEC’s commitment to working collaboratively with our clients to develop renewable energy solutions.

“I have visited the European WtE plants and seen this technology in action. They have the potential to reduce the waste sent to landfill by up to 80% or around 95% where, as is proposed for the facility, ash products are diverted from landfill for beneficial re-use by the construction industry,” SMEC National Manager for Waste Lukas McVey said.

“This plant is another step towards Australia’s renewable energy future and implementation of a circular economy.”