The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide £150 million for the planned waste facility near Knaresborough, which will process residual household waste from the two councils under a 25-year, £1.4 billion PFI contract signed with waste management firm AmeyCespa in 2010.
It is the first time the EIB – a European Union institution owned by Member States – has invested alongside the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB), which will provide £33.1 million towards the Allerton Park project.
GIB will provide long-term loan financing and an equity bridge loan alongside Nord/LB, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Siemens Bank, German bank KfW-IPEX and the EIB. The total project value is £319.5 million.
The PPP (public-private partnership) project is being developed by North Yorkshire county council and city of York council alongside sponsors AmeyCespa, Aberdeen UK Infrastructure Partners – a fund managed by Aberdeen Asset Management – and London-based infrastructure investor Equitix.
Plans for the long-delayed project were given final approval by the two councils in September 2014 (see letsrecyle.com), after concern about financing the contract following Defra’s withdrawal of PFI funding for the project in February 2013 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Situated at the Allerton quarry and landfill site between Harrogate and York, the development will include a 320,000 tonnes per year thermal treatment EfW plant, which according to council documents will have the capability to be reconfigured to combined heat and power (CHP) ‘if a suitable market can be established’.
In addition, the development will include an 8GWh anaerobic digestion (AD) facility to treat 40,000 tonnes per year of garden and food waste and mechanical sorting and reclamation of 20,000 tonnes a year of recyclable materials left in the waste arriving at the facility.
GIB
According to the GIB, it is the Bank’s first investment to feature ‘such an extensive range of waste treatments and advanced technology’ and the project will divert more than seven million tonnes of waste from landfill over its lifetime – the equivalent waste arisings of more than 300,000 households.
Furthermore, the project is expected to recover more than 1.5 million tonnes of recyclable materials and generate 203GWh of electricity each year – enough to power over 40,000 households.
Shaun Kingsbury, GIB chief executive, said: “This innovative project is a best-in-class example of how local authorities can improve recycling and generate significant amounts of renewable power from household waste. GIB is proud of its track record supporting innovation in the waste and recycling sector and particularly pleased that this impressive facility is the first to feature the full complement of waste treatments and new technologies.”
More than 400 jobs are expected to be created during the construction process and an additional 70 when the Allerton Waste Recovery Park becomes operational.
[testimonial id = “73” align=”right”]
EIB
It is not the first time the EIB has invested in a UK waste project. Greater Manchester’s 25-year PFI contract with Viridor Laing for the EfW facility at Runcorn was backed by £182 million from the EIB in 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Vice president of the EIB, Jonathan Taylor, commented: “The European Investment Bank is committed to supporting investment in waste processing that reduces carbon emissions, uses waste to generate green electricity and lowers long-term costs for households. We are pleased to support construction of the new Allerton Waste Recovery Park that will use innovative technologies to reduce the cost of waste management for local authorities, increase recycling and recover energy from waste. This new project represents the first joint investment between the European Investment Bank, and the UK Green Investment Bank, and we look forward to building on this in the years to come.”
Planning permission for the project was approved in October 2012, but the development has suffered delays as the incinerator was subject to opposition from the North Yorkshire Waste Action Group (see letsrecycle.com story).
Register for free to comment