The talks took place when Mayor Street, who is also chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority, visited Enfinium’s £500m waste infrastructure project at Kelvin, West Bromwich.
Due to come online from 2025, the EfW facility is to process 395,000 tonnes of waste a year.
Enfinium says that it has “emerging plans” to transform the Kelvin facility into a ‘Net Zero Hub’ that would leverage technologies such as heat networks, carbon capture and storage and electrolytic hydrogen to accelerate decarbonisation across the region.
And, pointing to the WMCA’s ‘Plan for Growth’, which sets out the region’s commitment to become Net Zero by 2041 and a leader in new low carbon solutions, particularly transport mobility, Enfinium considers the facility could help achieve the low carbon aims.
The company said: “The Kelvin facility alone could use its renewable power to produce enough low carbon hydrogen to continuously fuel hundreds of HGVs operating in the region.”
Hydrogen
Mayor Street, said: “I was delighted to visit the site of Enfinium’s £500 million investment into West Bromwich. With future capabilities for hydrogen generation and carbon capture, this state-of-the-art energy-from-waste facility, will be at the heart of the region’s goal to reach net zero by 2041.”
As part of the visit, the Enfinium management team also outlined the steps it had taken along with Acciona, its engineering, procurement, and construction partner for the project, to build relationships with the Sandwell community. A ‘Meet the Buyer’ event was held at Sandwell College in April 2022 to highlight potential supply chain opportunities during the project’s three-year build programme, which is expected to generate up to £80 million of economic activity for the regional economy, said Enfinium.
Infrastructure
Mike Maudsley, chief executive of Enfinium, said: “It was a pleasure to host the Mayor of the West Midlands at our facility and discuss the steps the Combined Authority is taking to create a zero-carbon economy by 2041.
We will transform non-recyclable waste into homegrown energy
“Once completed, our Kelvin project will provide critical infrastructure that will support green economic growth in West Bromwich and across the West Midlands region for years to come. We will transform non-recyclable waste into homegrown energy that can power exciting new technologies like electrolytic hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, as well as creating low carbon heat for homes and businesses in the region.”
Four facilities
Enfinium currently operates four facilities across England and Wales that process 2.3 million tonnes of residual waste a year, which the company says provide power for more than 500,000 homes. The sites are: Parc Adfer in Flintshire, Kemsley in Kent and Ferrybridge One and Two. The company took on the plants when it acquired Wheelabrator UK in February 2021.
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