The first plant is set to use gasification and pyrolysis technology to process up to 400,000 tonnes of waste a year and create up to 40MW of electricity at a site at Hooton Park on the Wirral. This is where Biossence announced plans to build a £100 million autoclave and gasification plant in 2007 and is where the company already has planning approval (see letsrecycle.com story).
The facility will be designed to supply power and surplus heat to nearby industry and is expected to benefit from enhanced power sales under the Renewable Obligation Certificate regime (ROCs).
At the second site, on the Widnes Waterfront, planning consent is being sought for a composting, biological treatment and solid recovered fuel preparation facility to handle 200,000 tonnes of organic and residual waste a year. Subject to planning approval, construction of the site will start later in 2009 and the facility will mirror those already operated by New Earth Solutions in Dorset and Kent.
The Mersey Green Solution merchant facilities will be developed in a modular fashion in line with rising demand.
Dr Ralf Trottnow, director of Biossence, said: “In the UK, the attractive Renewables Obligation regime, tough recycling and landfill diversion targets, and the relentless rise in landfill costs are creating a great business environment for us.
“We've observed many projects in Europe that have failed because the interfaces between waste handling and the creation of a fuel and its thermal conversion into heat and power have not been understood or properly linked up. Combining forces with New Earth has meant we can overcome this. The partnership has massive potential.”
Finance
At present , there is estimated to be around five million tonnes of municipal and commercial waste arising in Merseyside each year.
And, while many PFI-projects are stalling due to difficulty getting finance, the Mersey Green Solution facilities will use ‘phased development', so that debt and financing can be procured once the facilities have been established – removing a major obstacle.
Chris Cox, managing director for energy at New Earth, said: “We're looking to decouple the development of waste and renewable energy infrastructure from local authority procurement and bank lending. This will give us an exciting head-start in the market place so that we can have merchant facilities up and running to receive waste from the private and public sectors next year.
“Our phased development will allow debt and financial gearing of the projects to be introduced later, once the facilities are established,” he added.
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