The statistics come from Tolvik’s eighth annual EfW report, published yesterday (5 May), which analyses UK facilities “generating energy solely from the combustion of residual waste”.
Other standout statistics show that the percentage of tonnages made up from local authority waste fell from 80% to 77%, as commercial and industrial waste continues to be “re-shored” from export markets.
The report analysed the 53 operational plants which process residual waste in the UK, and showed that “despite a second calendar year influenced by the pandemic and associated lockdowns, in 2021 the UK’s EfW fleet continued to demonstrate its ongoing resilience.”
Residual waste is defined as non-hazardous, solid, combustible mixed waste which remains after recycling activities.
Overall, EfW inputs represented 56% of the UK residual waste market, which includes both household and commercial waste.
Power
In terms of power output, the plants exported 8,643 gigawatt hours (GWh) to the National Grid, up 11% from the previous year. This made up around 2.5% of the UK’s total electricity generation.
Tolvik added that 2021 saw “a further significant improvement in power export per tonne of waste inputs following the 2019 low during which a number of EfWs suffered from significant turbine issues.”
With regard to heat, the plants generated 1,845 GWh in 2021, up 11.8% from 2020.
Market share
Tolvik’s report shows that Viridor maintained its position as the largest EfW operator in the UK, with a market share of 21.6%. Viridor was followed by Veolia, Suez and Infinium.
The report said that as at December 2021 there were 53 fully operational EfWs in the UK with three EfWs in late stage commissioning, two of which entered full operations in January 2022.
During 2022, one plant – AssetGen Partners’ Hoddesdon EfW – was mothballed, meaning the overall number of plans is down one.
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