Gloucestershire-based Juniper has analysed trends within the European waste management sector and its latest forecast indicates that the UK, Scandinavia, France and Germany will be the biggest markets for energy from waste plants. But, because the UK has the greatest need to replace landfill capacity, the company predicts that the UK will be the fastest growing market and that the UK will build more energy from waste plants than any other country in Europe.
The company's model takes into account a number of factors including variations in government policy and participation in recycling. Claudia Heermann, market analyst for Juniper, said: “Our 'most likely' scenario predicts that 52 energy from waste plants will be built in the UK between 2001 and 2010. Of which 36 will be large scale conventional incinerators and 16 are expected to be small scale facilities using novel technologies such as gasification and pyrolysis.”
Juniper predicts that while a large number of pyrolysis and gasification plants may be commissioned, they will only account for a small proportion of waste treatment capacity because of their size relative to conventional incineration facilities.
Joe Schwager, managing director of Juniper, said: “Our forecasts are independent of any government targets in each country and are based on a bottom-up appraisal of the likelihood of projects going ahead on specific sites to meet local needs. Our forecasts also take into account delays inherent in the planning system that can slow down the sort of infrastructure renewal that is needed in the UK waste management sector.”
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