At yesterday’s (October 27) opening ceremony at the plant, which is situated at Colnbrook close to the M25 motorway and London’s Heathrow airport, the Duke toured the site and unveiled a commemorative plaque in front of guests who included the Japanese ambassador: the main contractors for the plant were Japanese firm Itochu/Takuma.
Addressing guests at the opening event, Grundon managing director Richard Skehens recalled the long period it had taken for the £160 million plant to reach this stage – he had become involved almost 20 years ago and also noted that the plant had faced some opposition.
Joint venture
Mike Hellings, managing director of Viridor, described the site as the result of “a true joint venture” which is based on businesses with family roots and strong business ethics and a focus on customer service. “We are safely, robustly and efficiently getting on with the important job of turning residual waste into an energy load.”
The role of the plant in helping to reduce global warming was highlighted by Shin Ebihara, the Japanese ambassador, who said: “I am delighted to be here to celebrate Lakeside which is another milestone in relationships between the UK and Japan. As we know very well climate change is a very critical issue and it is important to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emsissions.”
The ambassador added: “We have to make effort to promote global warming counter measures while securing the generation of energy. Energy from waste is the ideal solution, it can contribute to greenhouse gas reduction and replaces fossil fuels.”
Power
Doug Benjafield, chairman of the Lakeside Board, which includes Grundon and Viridor representatives, said: “The Lakeside facility is an excellent example of how effective energy from waste facilities can be in generating much needed, base-load power for the National Grid, largely from non-fossil fuels.
“We are delighted that HRH The Duke of Edinburgh has shown such a keen interest in this modern technology at the opening of the plant. We were able to demonstrate to all our guests the importance of safely and efficiently harnessing energy from residual waste.”
The facility has the capacity to recover energy from up to 410,000 tonnes of residual waste per year from local authorities and businesses and is capable of producing 37 Megawatts of power. 33 Megawatts is exported to the National Grid and the remaining four Megawatts is used to power the plant.
Terminal 5
There are draft proposals for Lakeside to supply surplus heat to local infrastructure, such as Terminal Five, with the plant operating as a combined heat and power (CHP) plant. Surplus steam is currently condensed before being returned as water to the plant.
However, it is not expected to operate on a CHP basis for the foreseeable future, partly because of the cost and construction of grid connections.
The plant, as it stands, receives NFFO funding support under policy measures introduced in 1990 to encourage the development of renewable and alternative fuels to fossil fuels.
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