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Tadweer and Tribe seek nod for $1.5bn Australia project

4 April 2025

The first project to emerge from the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa) signed between the UAE and Australia in November 2024 is progressing well. 

The Parkes Energy Recovery (PER) project will convert waste to electricity to power homes, businesses and industries across New South Wales (NSW) on Australia’s east coast.

According to Fahad Obaid Al-Taffaq, UAE ambassador to Australia, Parkes Energy Recovery, led by Australia-headquartered Tribe Infrastructure Group and Abu Dhabi’s Tadweer Group, is kicking off its consultation process to engage with stakeholders and secure approvals for the $1.5bn energy-from-waste facility.

“This project, a key development after signing the UAE-Australia Cepa, will power 80,000 homes, create jobs and foster long-term, sustainable growth,” Al-Taffaq said in a social media post in March.

The proposed facility will divert an estimated 600,000 tonnes of waste annually from landfill and generate at least 60MW of energy.

The anticipated capital investment of $1.5bn makes the project the “largest single investment in the history of Parkes”, the Parkes Shire Council website said in March.

MEED understands that councillors and the council’s Executive Management Team met with representatives from Parkes Energy Recovery on 18 March to discuss the proposed project.

The project is expected to tap “proven technology” from Zurich-headquartered Kanadevia Inova, formerly Hitachi Zosen Inova, to turn waste into electricity.

Parkes Energy Recovery comprises Tribe, Tadweer, Australian waste solutions firm HiQ and Kanadevia Inova.

The Regional Growth NSW Development Corporation (RGDC) selected the team following a “market process to identify a developer, which included scrutinising the consortium and the technology offered”.

The Parkes Shire Council said in March that the consortium “will now begin the process of wide community engagement and the planning and environmental approvals process for the facility that it will design, fund, own and operate on land leased from RGDC”.

The process will include rigorous planning and environmental approvals with the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI).

Cepa objectives

According to a legal note by UK-based law firm Watson, Farley & Williams (WFW), the Cepa free trade agreement offers major benefits to Australian businesses. These include the elimination of tariffs on over 99% of exports from Australia to the UAE by value and guaranteed market access in over 120 service sectors and subsectors.

WFW also notes that Australia and the UAE have agreed on five memoranda of understanding highlighting sectors that the two countries intend to work on to facilitate and enhance their investment relationship. These are green and renewable energy, data centres and artificial intelligence (AI) projects, the minerals sector, food and agriculture, and infrastructure development.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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