Proposed West Coast waste to energy plant finds $300m investor in China

Thursday, 24 May 2018

The company behind a controversial plan to build a waste to energy plant on the West Coast has signed a $300 million deal with a Chinese investor.

Renew Energy Ltd has attracted company China Tianying Inc to own and operate the $300m waste to energy plant proposed for Westport. Renew Energy chief executive David McGregor said the company would apply for resource consent this year and Renew would work on supplying 300,000 tonnes of waste to the plant.

The company hit a stumbling block when a $350,000 Government grant was put on ice after Economic Development Minister Shane Jones found out its former director, Gerard Gallagher, was under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Gallagher was found by the State Services Commission to have engaged in serious misconduct by trying to earn fees for property sales and other services while working for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.

McGregor said Gallagher was no longer involved and the proposal was not reliant on Government funding. It had already received $50,000 for a feasibility study from the previous National government.

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He recently visited a China Tianying plant with Renew Energy director Hugh Gray and Buller Mayor Garry Howard.

'They've got plants in 25 countries around the world and have over 40,000 employees. These guys are ready to go. We've signed an agreement last week when Garry was there. The agreement is in principle they want to invest. They won't spend their money until we have resource consent,' he said.

Renew Energy has found a company o own and operate the waste to energy plant proposed for Westport.

'We've got a few things to do, but they've committed to it so long as we can get a consent. That's a huge step forward. Unless we get the waste they won't invest. You have to do it on scale to make it economic. For that size you need 300,000 tonne a year. That's not quite 50 per cent of the waste of the South Island, that's a lot of waste,' he said.

Renew Energy Ltd chief executive David McGregor says the Chinese investor is 'ready to go'.

The company had already secured memorandum of understandings with eight councils for waste in the South Island, he said.

The Ministry for the Environment had raised concerns with former Environment Minister Nick Smith about the plant's environmental impact and economic viability.

McGregor said China Tianying's plants around the world met strict European emission standards, which were similar to New Zealand National Environmental Standards for Air Quality.