Energy from Waste in Australia

Delivering projects in an emerging sector

The Australian energy landscape is increasingly shifting towards the renewables sector. The current focus is on large scale solar and wind investment due to declining set-up costs and the potential to contribute to federal and state renewable targets.

The challenge for the Energy from Waste (EfW) industry is how to successfully leverage this momentum.

EfW technology has the potential to contribute to renewable energy targets, divert waste away from landfill, and reduce carbon emissions. By offering base load generation, it can also supplement solar and wind production and fulfill an important role in the energy mix.

Despite these benefits there has been a lack of deployment in Australia on a commercial scale to the extent seen in other countries – particularly in Asia and throughout Europe.

A solid foundation of early projects combined with the potential for a pipeline will encourage waste operators and technology providers to invest in Australia and financiers to dedicate resources to the sector. This in turn generates competition, enhances bid quality and reduces pricing – further underlining the importance of successful structuring of early projects.