Esther Hughes, Principal Environmental Planner, MRA Consulting Group, takes a look at the state of play for EfW.
An article on the MRA blog dated July 2014 is a summary of the Energy from Waste (EfW) Symposium held the same year in Lorne, Victoria, which featured a panel representing all the states and territories except Northern Territory and the ACT.
The conversation is familiar to this decade – landfill avoidance, thermal efficiencies, waste hierarchy, cannibalising recycling, bringing the community along, the effect of the landfill levy, and Energy-from-Waste policies.
So, what has changed? Well, lots and not much.
On the policy front, there are five major states and territories that have published standalone EfW policies, placing conditions around many of the main issues that were discussed eight years ago. The ACT has declared that it is a no-go zone for thermal EfW facilities. Victoria has placed a cap on EfW throughput.
On the ground, and the first in Australia employing modern technology, two large-scale thermal EfW facilities have been approved in Western Australia, followed by five in Victoria. The significance of these facilities to spearhead the modern alternative to landfills should not be underestimated. An Australian-based facility provides relevant data for other potential development and may help to alleviate fears about the EfW industry. Hopefully, our next holiday to WA will include a tour of Kwinana.
One might wonder what New South Wales, the most populous state with the highest waste levy, has achieved in the way of progress toward its first energy from waste facility.
In September 2021, the NSW government issued the Energy from Waste Infrastructure Plan 2021, in which it identifies three principles that would guide future energy from waste infrastructure investment.
They are: to improve certainty to communities and industry around acceptable locations and facilities; to commit to caution where there are areas of high population and exceedances to air quality standards, and to maximise efficiencies in infrastructure, waste management, innovation and energy recovery.
The Plan is focused on strategic planning that provides for economic and job opportunities in regional areas. Synergies with existing or planned infrastructure, including rail or road transport, are encouraged.
Following on from the Infrastructure Plan, on 8 July 2022 the NSW Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Amendment (Thermal Energy from Waste) Regulation 2022 came into effect. It’s a bit of a mouthful, but the intent of the amendment is to enforce a blanket prohibition on the thermal treatment of waste (energy from waste) in NSW except under certain circumstances.
There are three exceptions. The activity or work may be carried out at certain precincts or premises, the activity may be an established and operating activity at the premises immediately before the prohibition comes into force, and the activity may be carried out to replace a less environmentally sound fuel in certain circumstances.
The precincts that are not prohibited from energy from waste include the Parkes Activation Precinct, the Richmond Valley Regional Jobs Precinct, the Southern Goulburn Mulwaree Precinct and the West Lithgow Precinct. There is provision for other precinct(s) that are yet to be gazetted, potentially at a former mine site or former electricity generation site.
An EfW facility is also not prohibited if it is an established and operating facility prior to the changes to the regulation. Hence the sites in NSW that currently thermally treat waste – in Berrima and Tumut – are not impacted by the regulation.
There are four criteria to be eligible to establish an EfW facility that replaces a different fuel source:
The replaced fuel has to be less environmentally sound.
The facility had to be running, or was approved to run, before the amendment occurred.
At least 90 per cent of the replaced fuel was used for industrial or manufacturing processes at the premises in the year before the amendment occurred.
At least 90 per cent of the energy recovered from waste-derived-fuels will be used for industrial or manufacturing processes in a given year.
By way of definition, the legislation captures the recovery of electrical energy, mechanical energy, heat and fuel production. It is applicable to any licensable activity, which is a 200 tonnes per annum waste throughput limit for energy recovery.
The stand-out impact of the infrastructure plan and the regulation is that there are only four precinct locations to establish new EfW facilities. Other opportunities are extremely limited, with five applications in NSW already being axed as a result. Within precinct planning, however, there is generous support for waste and resource recovery infrastructure investment.
A Special Activation Precinct (SAP) is a dedicated area in a regional location identified by the NSW government to become a thriving business hub. SAPs use fast-track planning, investment in infrastructure, government-led studies and development/business concierge.
Parkes is the first of six SAPs to be developed, and has particular opportunities aligned with the east-west rail line and the Inland Rail project. The Regional Growth and Development Corporation is responsible for the delivery of the Parkes SAP, facilitating fast-track approvals for many activities, including thermal electricity generating works and waste management facilities.
The Regional Jobs Precincts is an extension of the SAP program which also aims to assist fast-track approvals, growth and investment in regional NSW. The Regional Jobs Precinct program is less developed than Parkes, but it is likely to follow a similar approvals system with specialist studies already commissioned.
A high level of regulatory control arises from the NSW Energy from Waste Infrastructure Plan and associated legislation.
While Parkes is the first key precinct to move ahead, with streamlined development pathways for waste infrastructure to support the strategic plan and provide industrial ecology synergies, other opportunities face regulatory barriers to their development.
On a positive note, within the parameters of the Energy from Waste Policy, the Energy from Waste Infrastructure Plan and the Amended PoEO (General) Regulation, NSW is set to move forward to the considered approval of their first EfW facility for thermal treatment of waste, with regional areas benefiting from job opportunities and increased investment.
For more information, contact: info@mraconsulting.com.au
