The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has signalled preliminary concerns about Acciona’s proposed acquisition of the East Rockingham Waste to Energy Project, a development that is currently in voluntary administration and subject to a receivers’ sale process.
Acciona holds a 10 per cent equity stake in the East Rockingham project, is a creditor under a loan agreement and is the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the facility, which is approved to process 300 kt/year of residual waste and generate 29 MW of electricity to the grid. The company also owns and operates the Kwinana waste‑to‑energy plant south of Perth, which is approved to process up to 460 kt/year and produce about 38 MW and is expected to be fully operational this year after commissioning.
Both facilities are intended to accept residual putrescible waste from municipal and commercial and industrial customers in the Perth and Peel region. Once both are operating, the ACCC says they will be the only waste‑to‑energy plants in Western Australia.
“The proposed acquisition removes competition between the only two waste-to-energy facilities in the Perth and Peel region of Western Australia,” ACCC Commissioner Dr Philip Williams said.
“Our preliminary view is that the proposed acquisition is likely to substantially lessen competition in the supply of putrescible waste disposal services in the region.”
Market feedback to the regulator indicated the two plants are close competitors because of their similar services and geographic proximity. The ACCC said it is concerned Acciona could have the ability to raise prices or reduce service quality if it were to control both sites.
“We consider that East Rockingham and Kwinana waste-to-energy facilities are each other’s closest competitor. We are concerned that Acciona would be able to increase prices or reduce service quality at the East Rockingham and Kwinana waste-to-energy facilities following the proposed acquisition,” Dr Williams said.
The ACCC is examining whether existing capacity constraints and significant committed capacity at the facilities would limit any ability to increase prices or reduce service standards, and is also assessing the extent to which other disposal options such as landfills might act as a competitive constraint.
“We understand that establishing waste-to-energy facilities requires substantial time, money and regulatory approvals. This means that no other waste-to-energy facility is likely to become operational in Western Australia within the next decade,” Dr Williams said.
The regulator has published a Statement of Issues and is inviting submissions from interested parties by 31 July 2025. More information is available on the ACCC’s public registers.
