EPA Victoria will hold two community conferences in June to discuss Cleanaway Operations' development licence application to build a waste-to-energy plant in Wollert.
A community conference scheduled for 20 June has reached the legal capacity of the venue and a second, online meeting has been scheduled for 25 June.
"Kirrip Community Centre is the largest available venue in the Wollert area and due to very high interest from the community, we have now reached the centre's legal capacity,' Head of EPA Permissioning Angela Grozos said.
"Going with a second, online meeting greatly increases our ability to hear from more community members."
EPA kindly requests those who have already registered for the 20 June meeting to consider joining the online conference instead.
EPA has written to all those who have already registered to advise them of the new arrangements. Details for the two sessions are:
In person
Date: Thursday, 20 June 2024
Time: 5pm to 6pm (drop-in session) 6pm to 9pm (conference)
Venue: Kirrip Community Centre
Address: 135 De Rossi Blvd, Wollert VIC 3750
Registrations for this session have now closed.
Online
Date: Tuesday, 25 June 2024
Time: 6pm – 9pm
Venue: Online
Please register your attendance of the online conference by 16 June 2024 at 11:59pm by clicking https://forms.office.com/r/xRsSFQ9Uf2
Background
EPA has received a development licence application from Cleanaway Operations Pty Ltd. The application proposes to develop a Waste to Energy (WtE) facility. It will be known as the Melbourne Energy and Resource Centre (MERC). It will be located at 510 Summerhill Rd, Wollert VIC 3750.
The facility is designed to thermally treat 380,000 tonnes per annum of waste. It will only receive waste that would otherwise be sent to landfill.
The WtE process will generate approximately 46.3 MW gross of electricity, 4.7MW of which would be used to power the facility itself. The remainder 41.6MW will be exported to the grid as base load electricity.
Waste ash produced from the WtE process will be treated at the facility to be used as an alternative construction product. Metals will be recovered from waste ash for recycling and sale to market.
