Fundraising

Tribe Infra in Australian waste-to-energy deal

Abu Dhabi firm is part of consortium named preferred bidder for the $320m project, which will divert 96% of Perth’s residual waste from landfills and turn it into renewable energy.

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A consortium involving Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Tribe Infrastructure has been named the preferred bidder to build Australia’s first large-scale waste-to-energy facility in East Rockingham, Perth. 

The early-stage-focused Middle East investor is joined by two waste-to-energy developers – Zurich-based Hitachi Zosen Inova and Perth-based New Energy Corporation – to develop the A$400 million ($320 million; €268 million) East Rockingham Resource Recovery Facility. 

Each of the consortium members holds an equal one-third stake in the project. The financial close of the project is expected to be reached by the second quarter of next year to kick-start the construction in Q3, followed by completion in 2021. 

The facility will convert approximately 300,000 tons of waste per year into baseload renewable energy, with a full capacity of 28MW. This would divert 96 percent of the Eastern Metropolitan Region’s residual household waste from landfills – the state has targeted 65 percent diversion by 2020. 

HZI, which is leading the consortium, will act as the technology provider and EPC contractor. It will also share a long-term operation-and-maintenance contract with New Energy. The team is now working through pre-engineering and towards environmental approval for the site. 

“The tender award was the culmination of years of work by the regional council to find the best resource recovery solution to manage existing and future waste. The project supports the Western Australian state government’s aggressive targets for landfill diversion, set in the state’s waste strategy launched in 2012,” said Enzo Gullotti, chairman of New Energy Corporation. 

“We recognise the importance of delivering sustainable, cost-effective infrastructure solutions for the dual challenges of waste management and power pricing,” said Edward Nicholas, executive director of Tribe. “Our East Rockingham facility will be a critical new asset for Perth, supplying reliable, renewable electricity for the community on a competitively priced basis.”