Kaipara’s waste-to-energy plant push involves majority overseas-owned company

Will Kaipara or Auckland be home to a new waste-to-energy plant? This State Highway 1 sign stands at the northern side of the Kaipara/Auckland boundary.

Kaipara District Council’s (KDC) push to build a controversial waste-to-energy plant in or near Auckland includes the mainly overseas-owned company aiming to build a $350 million equivalent in Canterbury.

Council Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen specifically included the 60 per cent overseas-owned South Island Resource Recovery Limited (SIRRL) as the operator Kaipara District Council would work with to investigate setting up a huge multi-million-dollar waste-to-energy (WtE) plant in his notice of motion to the council’s April meeting in Dargaville.

Other industry sector operators would also be included.

Ashburton-based South Island company SIRRL is a joint venture partnership between China Tianying Incorporated (China) (CNTY) which owns 41 per cent; CNTY’s Belgian-based European subsidiary EUZY owns 19 per cent, while Auckland-based Renew Energy Limited (NZ) owns 40 per cent.

CNTY is a Chinese-based company mostly involved in municipal waste incineration for power generation.

SIRRL is aiming to build what it says will be New Zealand’s first WtE plant of its type - codenamed Project Kea and processing 365,000 tonnes of waste annually - in rural Glenavy, South Canterbury between Christchurch and Dunedin.

The KDC-initiated investigation is to be done in conjunction with Auckland Council, Whangārei District Council, Far North District Council, Northland Inc and Kaipara hapū Te Uri-o-Hau.

Councillor Pera Paniora said Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency was also interested.

Larsen said the major infrastructure project could incinerate Northland and Auckland councils’ waste.

An artist's impression of SIRRL's $350 million proposed Waimate waste-to-energy plant. Something similar could end up being built in Kaipara.

He said KDC had, quite rightly, opposed the proposed Dome Valley landfill but did not come up with an alternative. The time was right to investigate harnessing this modern and clean technology which produces energy and valuable byproducts.

“[I] hope that we can try to land something, maybe in this term of Council,” Larsen said.

KDC staff would now investigate options for a WtE plant, with a preliminary viability report to be presented to a council workshop in June.

KDC chief executive Jason Marris could check whether other Northland council CEOs would be interested and, if so, a combined councils’ workshop with industry operators could follow.

Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson has previously been involved with the international WtE plant company Olivine’s plan to convert North Waikato’s coal-fired Meremere power station into a waste-to-energy plant. The company pulled out after an 18-month resource consent battle.

The April council meeting was in support of Larsen’s notice of motion.

Whether and how the other 43 local government politicians from Auckland north publicly elected to councils supporting the plan have formally voted to carry out the investigation has not yet been made public.

Larsen said Auckland Council’s involvement was critical to provide the economies of scale needed for rubbish supply to the incinerator. Auckland produces roughly 1.6 million tonnes of rubbish annually.

Remote locations around Auckland’s Rodney and Kaipara are in the line of sight for those keen on the WtE plant.

Larsen said the plant could be situated in Kaipara or Auckland. It was possible Kaipara would get a greater advantage from having the plant in its area.

He said the best location provided optimal transportation access relative to the source of where the biggest rubbish production was.

Rail transport would be used to get rubbish to the site, meaning it would need to be close to the North Auckland rail line which runs from Helensville to Ōkaihau.

Larsen did not talk about the fuel used to fire up the incinerator burning the waste. Coal has been used for this job overseas.

Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson and Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen are backing a proposal for a waste-to-energy plant, which could be located in the Kaipara.

Paniora was in support of the WtE plant because of the potential opportunity for it to be located in Kaipara, but said investigation should be driven by Auckland Council.

The Environment Court’s Dome Valley landfill appeal decision was not far away, she said, and it looked likely the landfill’s resource consent would be declined.

“That’s where the conversation about waste-to-energy becomes very relevant,” Paniora said.

Councillor Eryn Wilson-Collins said the bigger players among those involved in the investigation should work through what they envisaged the project looking like, then get back to KDC.

Councillor Gordon Lambeth said a new WtE plant provided opportunities for Kaipara.

“Build it and they will come. Auckland’s got a problem, we’ve got the solution. I believe this a great opportunity economically for the Kaipara District Council. Auckland ain’t going to get it [the plant] built,” Lambeth said.

“We [Kaipara] have the opportunity, we have the land, we have the infrastructure - everything’s in place.”

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