Yarra Valley Water officially opens Waste to Energy Facility

The Hon Lisa Neville MP, Victorian Minister for Water, officially opened the Yarra Valley Water’s $27 million Waste to Energy facility in Wollert on the 14th June.  The purpose-built facility converts organic waste such as food scraps, into renewable energy.  This occurs via the production of methane gas (biogas) which powers generators to produce electricity. 

This process saves up to 30,000 tonnes of waste, otherwise bound for landfill each year.   The amount of energy produced by the new facility is the equivalent of about 25 per cent of Yarra Valley Water’s overall energy requirements.  The goal is to produce 100% renewable energy within the next 10 years. 

Aquatec Maxcon Victorian State Manager, Anthony Davey, said “It was a very exciting day for the project team who have worked on this for five years; from development, feasibility and design, to construction and successful operation. We used technology readily available from Europe for the waste handling facilities, cogeneration and digestion process. We had many hurdles along the way - The smarts were in getting the business models to work.  It is full credit to the Yarra Valley Water and Aquatec Maxcon personnel involved to see the plant fully operational and performing well”.

Pat McCafferty, Managing Director of Yarra Valley Water, thanked Aquatec Maxcon for partnering on the project and making it a success, saying “While similar facilities are in place in other parts of the world, a great deal of work was needed to determine whether we could make a facility of this kind a success in the Australian market”.  

Watch the opening of the plant via Channel Nine News here:

Water bills could soon be slashed thanks to unwanted food scraps, the rubbish transformed into electricity. @msanto92 #9News pic.twitter.com/dq9BjLx1cl

— Nine News Melbourne (@9NewsMelb) June 14, 2017

The Waste to Energy plant is enough to power the adjacent Aurora Sewage Treatment Plant and export surplus electricity to the grid as renewable energy – making the facility not just environmentally sustainable but also commercially viable. 

The Victorian Labor Government’s climate change plan for water (Water for Victoria) requires the water sector to be a leader in climate change mitigation and adaption and to adopt a target of at least 25 per cent renewable energy by 2020.  Victorian Minister for Water, Lisa Neville, said “This project is a great example of our water authorities meeting the challenges of the future.  By generating its own energy, rather than being dependent on purchasing energy, the facility will put downwards pressure on water bills for consumers”.  

Due to the success of this project a second plant is planned for construction by Yarra Valley Water. 

Photographs copyrighted to and kindly supplied by Yarra Valley Water.

L TO R:  PAT MCCAFFERTY, YARRA VALLEY WATER MANAGING DIRECTOR; BRONWYN HALFPENNY, STATE MEMBER FOR THOMASTOWN; THE HON. LISA NEVILLE, MP;  AND SUE O’CONNOR, YARRA VALLEY WATER CHAIR

BIOGAS PRODUCED FROM DIGESTERS AT THE YARRA VALLEY WATER RE-WASTE FACILITY. 100 TONNES PER DAY ARE DIRECTLY TRANSFERRED TO 1MW ELECTRICITY.