Multifuel Energy Limited (MEL), a joint venture between energy and gas supplier SSE and US firm Wheelabrator Technologies, will use a range of waste derived fuels to produce up to 70MW for the National Grid – enough to power 160,000 homes.
The FM1 plant, which is based adjacent to the existing Ferrybridge C Power Station, has capacity to process around 570,000 tonnes of fuel sourced from municipal solid waste and commercial and industrial waste.
The announcement comes more than three years since main contractor Hitachi Zosen Inova began construction on the facility and follows months of commissioning. The plant began burning solid fuel for the first time in two of its boiler lines in May (see letsrecycle.com story).
The plant received its first waste load from Milton Keynes-based waste management firm Shanks in March, which is contracted to deliver 200,000 tonnes of RDF to the facility from its mechanical biological treatment plants at Rotherham, Cumbria and Wakefield.
BDR
Based on Bolton Road, Shanks’ Rotherham facility – which was developed in partnership with SSE – became fully operational last month and will treat residual waste collected from 340,000 households within the Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham (BDR) council partnership for the next 25 years (see letsrecycle.com story).
Hitachi Zosen Inova has now handed full responsibility of the plant to the 46-strong MEL team, who will oversee the everyday running of the FM1 facility.
MEL has also applied to build and operate a second Multifuel power station at the Ferrybridge site (known as FM2). If planning permission is granted to FM2, both plants will be capable of treating over one million tonnes of solid and waste derived fuels each year.
Tom Maillet, director of Engineering and Operations for Multifuel Energy Ltd, said: “The commencement of commercial operations at the Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 project is a great achievement for everyone who has been involved and I would like to thank each and every team member for their hard work and dedication.
‘Efficient’
“I would also like to thank HZI for delivering such a high quality plant. We are excited to reach this milestone, and are now looking forward to concentrating on operating safely, successfully and efficiently.”
Speaking on Friday (July 31) Franz-Josef Mengede, chief executive of Hitachi Zosen Inova, added: “Today marks the end of the construction phase to build the Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 project. We are proud to deliver a plant that sets a new milestone in fuel flexibility, size and energy efficiency to our customer safely and within the expected timeframe.”
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