The Princess, who was part of a Belgian trade delegation visiting the UK, also conducted the ceremonial opening of an information hub at the site, which is known as the Rivenhall Integrated Waste Management Facility (IWMF) and Energy Centre.
And, Indaver confirmed it has appointed EfW engineering specialist Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI) as its EPC contractor for the facility, with the contract signed and effective as of 9 May.
Speaking at the ceremony, Karl Huts, Indaver’s chief financial officer, said the 595,000 tonnes per year capacity EfW facility would “make Willy Wonka jealous”. Fernand Huts of Antwerp-based Katoen Natie, Indaver’s major shareholder was also present. He is the father of Karl Huts.
Karl Huts said: “It is one big, magical place, courtesy of the master magicians of Hitachi, that is going to wring out every single last joule of energy – every single last gram of valuable material – out of the more than 600,000 tonnes of residual household waste that the English people from the neighbouring counties are going to send us.”
Indaver expects the EfW facility to begin commissioning in early 2025 and be fully operational by the end of the same year.
EfW facility
While site preparation has been underway for several months, yesterday’s ceremony marked the official start to the construction of the EfW facility, which will be Indaver’s first in England.
Indaver confirmed it was developing proposals to achieve a greater power output without increasing the throughput of waste. The facility currently has permission to generate 49.9MWe each year once operational. However, the Planning Inspectorate “expects” Indaver to apply to increase the facility’s electricity generating capacity to 65MWe in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Any increase in a plant’s capacity to more than 50MW requires the Secretary of State’s consent for ‘nationally significant infrastructure’.
The plant has planning permission for a 35m stack, for which the Environment Agency issued a revised environmental permit in June 2020 following a long-standing debate over the height of the chimney (see letsrecycle.com story).
IWMF
The EfW plant will form part of the larger £600 million IWMF, which has a total permitted capacity of 853,000 tonnes per year.
Paul De Bruycker, Indaver’s CEO, said: “This Integrated Waste Management Facility will help the UK achieve its net zero carbon and energy targets. That is our aim and belief.
“I can assure you that we will do this in good faith with our neighbours and local communities around our site.”
Planning
Currently, plans for the whole IWMF comprise the EfW plant, a de-inking and paper pulping facility, an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, a material recycling facility (MRF), and a mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facility.
However, it is unclear just how many elements of the facility Indaver will actually build, given that it has indicated that the paper pulping facility in particular is no longer commercially viable (see letsrecycle.com story). This could bring it into conflict with Essex county council over the status of planning permission as the county’s approval is for the whole project and the use of the heat from the EfW plant by the paper pulping facility. It is expected that Indaver will seek to put forward alternative proposals for use of the heat, even with a small paper plant or other facility.
The IWMF will create 65 full time jobs and more than 500 jobs during construction, Indaver says.
Subscribe for free