Cory expansion points to London EfW growth

Plans to boost the capacity of the Riverside Resource Recovery Limited EfW plant, located in Belvedere, were rubber-stamped by the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) earlier this year.

It sees maximum throughput for the plant rise to 785,000 tonnes of residual waste per year – an increase of 115,000 tonnes on the previous threshold.

Cory has also received permission to source feedstock from the Port of Tilbury in Essex, in addition to its existing arrangement with riverside waste transfer stations in Greater London.

Approval for the site comes as figures released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs last week indicate that 45% of waste generated in the capital was incinerated in 2014/15 – compared to 41% the previous year.

And, while landfilling fell by around 4%, recycling too has started to slide. In 2014/15, overall recycling across the London boroughs stood at 30.2% – a 0.2% drop on 2013/14.

The figures have led to criticism from Green Party London Assembly member Jenny Jones who called for an end to the ‘rot’ of declining recycling rates.

She said: “In the last two years London’s recycling rates have started going in the wrong direction and even former trailblazing boroughs such as Bexley and Bromley are now being affected by this rot.

“This reverses a thirteen year trend when recycling rates were increasing year on year. Londoners want to recycle more but councils have failed to lay on the new facilities and are burning the waste instead.”

She added: “The next Mayor will have to work hard to turn around this dismal legacy, by building sufficient recycling facilities and anaerobic digesters for converting food waste into green energy.”

Capacity

The figures show that Western Riverside Waste Authority, which is served by the Cory EfW plant, actually bucked the trend towards incineration. A total of 321,000 tonnes of waste was sent to the plant in 2014/15 – around 1,000 tonnes less than in the previous year.

In spite of this reduction, Cory suggests there is still a need for greater capacity. In its proposals to expand the site, submitted to DECC in 2014, the waste firm explains that advances in reliability means that there is now higher levels of capacity at the plant than originally anticipated when planning was submitted 13 years ago.

Operating data from the plant shows that the projected calorific value of the waste falls below the prediction used to define the throughput of 670,000 tonnes per year. The lower value results in more waste being processed in order to generate the same amount of power as material of a higher calorific value.

Cory suggests that in light of these calculations, the potential throughput of the site should be amended to 785,000 tonnes – which can be achieved “without any change to the physical structure or footprint of the facility”.

Over 85% of the waste delivered to the Belvedere plant arrives on barges along the River Thames from four riverside waste transfer stations located in Wandsworth, Battersea, the City of London and Tower Hamlets.

Tilbury

Cory’s plan to vary its catchment area has also been accepted. Tilbury is already utilised to handle and process incinerator bottom ash (IBA) residues from the facility – but the company believes both this and the river transport could be used “more efficiently” to allow greater throughput.

The extension means there are now a ‘limited number’ of additional barges on the river route. It comes despite a letter written to the National Infrastructure Consents Team by the Mayor’s Office last year, arguing there should be a ‘limit’ on the waste tonnages imported from outside the capital, with the facility remaining strategic for London’s non-recyclable waste.

The Mayor’s Office was also keen to see further work undertaken from a ‘district heat and energy perspective’ at the plant. It claimed that there are energy efficiencies that could be made if the facility is operating at below maximum capacity.

Amendments

Richard Wilkinson, senior planning manager at Cory Environmental, said: “We welcome the announcement from the Department for Energy and Climate Change made on 13^th March of this year that they have granted permission for the amendments to the existing Section 36 Consent and Deemed Planning Permission at the Riverside Resource Recovery Energy from Waste facility.”