Yarra Valley Water, an Australian water utility owned by the government of Victoria, is building a second food waste-to-energy facility that it said will tackle food waste, generate electricity and slash emissions.
The new Lilydale facility will generate up to 39,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per day – enough to power the equivalent of more than 2,200 Victorian households, it added.
Yarra Valley Water has been operating its award-winning facility in Wollert since 2017, which has diverted over 175,000 tonnes of food waste from landfill to date.
The new $48 million (€29.3 million) Lilydale facility will start to take commercial food waste from as early as 2025 and is expected to be fully operational in 2026.
The second food waste-to-energy facility will divert about 55,000 tonnes of food waste from landfill every year.
With the addition of this second facility, Yarra Valley Water is on track to meet its ambitious emission reduction targets to become net zero and using 100% renewable energy from mid-2025, according to the corporation.
It will be one of the largest food waste to energy facilities of its kind in Australia, and will utilise a natural process to convert organic waste to energy.
Managing director Pat McCafferty said it was great to see the project come to fruition.
“We’ve come a long way since we built Victoria’s first commercial scale food waste-to-energy facility at our Aurora Sewage Treatment Plant,” he said.
He continued: “In Victoria, we're generating over two million tonnes of food waste per year. Almost half of that ends up in landfills – having a devastating impact on our environment.”
“The good news is that these are figures that can be changed, thanks to innovative projects like this and a change in consumer and retailer behaviours.”
Yarra Valley Water announces second food waste-to-energy facility
