Australia’s only manufacturer of office, printing and packaging papers plans to build a $600 million power plant that would burn household rubbish to power its Maryvale paper mill and sell excess energy back to the grid.
Australian Paper says the
Energy from Waste project would be built next to its Maryvale facility in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley and would burn hundreds of thousands of tonnes of non-hazardous household rubbish to generate 225 megawatts of electricity.
The company has received $5 million in state and federal funding to conduct a feasibility study of the project and says it could go ahead within five years, if approved.
The plant, which would replace two existing gas-fired boilers, would divert an estimated 650,000 tonnes of waste from landfill each year. It would not burn recyclables.
“One of our immediate priorities is to stabilise our costs and one of the most significant focus areas is energy,” Australian Paper says in a statement. “Despite being Victoria’s largest generator of baseload renewable energy, we are the largest industrial user of natural gas in Victoria and also use significant quantities of coal-fired electricity. Like any other business or household in Australia, we are exposed to surges in energy prices and uncertainty of supply.
“Australian Paper is proposing to develop a 225-megawatt thermal Energy from Waste (EfW) plant adjacent to the existing AP Maryvale Pulp and Paper Mill site on land owned by AP in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria. The aim of the proposed $600m EfW plant is to allow AP to attain a sustainable, long-term and stable alternative base load energy source to provide steam and electricity for the existing Maryvale Mill, which has been manufacturing paper since 1938.”
The company says the benefits of the scheme will include helping to secure the future of the Maryvale Mill - a key employer in the region with approximately 850 staff – and supporting an estimated 1,600 fulltime equivalent (FTE) jobs during the construction phase and 440 FTE jobs during the operational phase (direct and flow on) in Victoria.
It would also cut greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 550,000 tonnes per year, which would be the equivalent of taking more than 100,000 cars off the road.
“We want to address our future energy needs proactively, which is why we are carrying out a comprehensive Energy from Waste (EfW) feasibility study,” says the company.
The study is expected to conclude in mid-2018.
Australian Paper is owned by Japanese-based Nippon Paper Group, one of the 10 largest companies in the global forest, paper and packaging industry, with more than 20 paper mills in Japan and business interests in Asia, Oceania, North and South America and Europe. Australian Paper is Nippon Paper’s largest investment outside Japan.
The study is expected to conclude in mid-2018.
Australian Paper is owned by Japanese-based Nippon Paper Group, one of the 10 largest companies in the global forest, paper and packaging industry, with more than 20 paper mills in Japan and business interests in Asia, Oceania, North and South America and Europe. Australian Paper is Nippon Paper’s largest investment outside Japan.