AGL Energy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with waste site remediation company Nu-Rock Building Products to investigate the feasibility of utilising their waste recycling technology to convert coal ash into construction bricks at Bayswater power station.

The unique process was undertaken by Nu-Rock permanently converts large volumes of solid and liquid industrial waste materials into a range of environmentally sustainable building products.

AGL chief operating officer Markus Brokhof said the MoU with Nu-Rock would explore recycling waste in an innovative way for AGL, along with their strategy to convert their thermal power station sites into an ecosystem within a circular economy.

Brokhof said: “This technology is a great example of using various value streams, as we producer energy at Bayswater to power the state, our coal ash waste can be recycled for the better by Nu-Rock into bricks that can be used in local construction projects.

“Our feasibility study with Nu-Rock will determine whether we can implement this technology at Bayswater, which if approved would provide up to 30 full time local jobs for the first facility which will be the nucleus of our industrial waste cluster.

“We have a very clear plan to rejuvenate our thermal sites into low carbon industrial energy hubs, and this technology would complement those plans, as an operations-led facility at the Bayswater site reducing the volume of coal ash going to the landfill.

“As we continue our energy transition, we are exploring more ways to introduce sustainable and renewable facilities and technology at our sies, focusing on how we can generate clean power, lower our emissions, and recycle our energy waste for our communities and employees.”

Earlier this year AGL brought forward the closure windows of its coal-fired power stations, with Bayswater set to close no later than 2033.

Following the proposed demerger, AGL’s large baseload power generation assets including Bayswater, will be assets of Accel Energy and will be rejuvenated into low carbon industrial energy hubs.