Almost a year on from the end of a 15-year planning battle, contractor Breheny starts this week on work to strengthen and stabilise the site's main access point, Norman Road.
The road access work has been let under a separate contract to the main contract for the Riverside Resource Recovery (RRR) plant, which is to be carried out by Swiss energy-from-waste specialists Von Roll Innova, and is expected to start this summer.
John Bolden, director at Cory Environmental, the waste management firm ultimately behind the project, explained that the road access contract had been let separately to the main construction contract so that work could begin earlier.
“It's given us the opportunity to proceed earlier than would otherwise have been the case, while we finalise the contract with Von Roll,” he said.
The start of construction work comes after a year of ground preparation work at the site, investigating the ecology, archaeology and toxicity of the area, which has been home to a chemicals plant in the past.
Cory is aiming to complete the RRR plant by the end of 2010, when the extended life-span on its Mucking landfill in Essex is due to run out. The project is on a firm schedule, since the huge global demand at the moment for power-generating turbines means the plant's turbines have been booked in advance for a set delivery date.
At present, about two-thirds of the plant's capacity is booked up – mostly through Cory's 25-year contract with the Western Riverside Waste Authority of central London boroughs. Cory is intending to bid for further contracts during the 36-month construction period of the plant, possibly including a tender for Bexley council itself.
“Efficient”
The plant will use conventional mass burn “moving grate” technology, and is expected to have a thermal efficiency of about 27%. Mr Bolden claimed that even without producing combined heat and power, the facility would be the “one of the most efficient energy-from-waste plants in the UK”.
It will use three lines to process about 29.8 tonnes per hour. Although it will average 585,000 tonnes of material a year over its 30-year lifespan, it is consented to take a maximum of 670,000 tonnes in any one year.
Under the planning agreement that took more than 15 years to secure (see letsrecycle.com story), the facility is designed to keep open the possibility of generating combined heat and power.
At the moment, there is no local demand for the excess heat generated by the plant, but Cory has commissioned consultants PB Power for a second time to look into possible markets for the heat, and is expected to report back in March.
“We've consulted with PB Power – they are the experts in exploiting CHP, and we employed them during the planning process, when they felt there wasn't the opportunity,” Mr Bolden said. “More recently, discussions with the Mayor have raised it again, and we have re-engaged with PB Power, since it's now five years later, to reinvestigate whether there are any opportunities or potential in the near future.”
Members of the local community represented by the Riverside Community Forum, were informed of the imminent start of construction at the liaison group's fourth meeting, held last Tuesday.
The liaison group comprises 22 members of community organisations, including the three local councillors for the Belvedere Ward of the London borough of Bexley, and is chaired by a local businessman.
Mr Bolden said: “The Forum is there for us to inform the members – many of whom represent groups that had an interest in the planning process – about what is happening. We are very pleased with how it is working. We want to be working with the local community on this, and we do think we are already improving our relationship with them.”
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