U.K. Energy-from-Waste Plant Ready to Go

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--A new energy-from-waste (EfW) plant in Kent, England has received an £80 million ($106 million) boost to reach financial close.

U.S.-based EfW specialist Wheelabrator Technologies Incorporated (Hampton, New Hampshire) has confirmed that the project is now ready to go following the cash injection from the U.K.'s Green Investment Bank plc (GIB). Last year, it became the first EfW project in the country to be awarded a 15-year Contract for Difference with the U.K. government for approximately 50% of the facility's power output. The plant will cost £340 million ($452 million) to construct and will be commissioned in 2019.

"To achieve financial close is a significant milestone and I'm very proud of our team for making this possible, and excited to welcome a second facility in the U.K. to our fleet," said Wheelabrator President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Boucher.

The plant, which will have a generating capacity of 43 megawatts (MW), will be located in Kemsley in Kent, next to the Kemsley Paper Mill. Along with generating 154 gigawatt hours (GWh) of renewable electricity which will power about 37,500 homes, it will also supply 180 GWh of renewable heat to the mill, which produces sustainable packaging for the retail industry. The plant will burn 500,000 tonnes of waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 163,000 tonnes per year--the equivalent of removing 75,000 cars from the roads--Wheelabrator maintained.

Greg Clark, the U.K.'s Business and Energy secretary, said: "As well as creating hundreds of construction jobs, this latest investment by the U.K. Green Investment Bank is an important contribution towards combating climate change and building an energy infrastructure for the 21st century that is cleaner, secure and affordable. It also shows that the green economy continues to attract finance for projects like this."

Shaun Kingsbury, chief executive officer of the GIB, added: "This plant will put renewable energy to work for one of Kent's major employers while helping the U.K. meet its climate change and waste management goals. Combined heat and power is a prominent feature of the low-carbon energy infrastructure in mainland Europe and Scandinavia and is one of the key technologies that can help British industry become more efficient, competitive and cleaner."

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