Keppel revealed on Thursday (April 8), that its subsidiary Keppel Seghers had secured the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) award for the proposed facility at chemical firm Ineos Chlor's Runcorn site.
The facility is intended to be the final destination for the refuse-derived fuel produced under the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority's £3.8 billion PFI-funded waste management deal with a Viridor Laing consortium, which finally achieved financial close last Wednesday (April 7) (see letsrecycle.com story).
Keppel said that, when built, the plant should be able to supply, at full capacity, 270,000 megawatt hours of electricity and 500,000 tonnes of steam a year, which would be used by the “internal network” of the Ineos Chlor site.
Commenting on the deal, Chua Chee Wui, the chief executive of Keppel Integrated Engineering, said: “The Greater Manchester waste project, which we have been working on with our partners since 2005, is the largest privatisation project in the EU waste management and renewable energy market.
“Winning this green project against the backdrop of a global credit crunch is a clear indicator of the financial credit quality in addition to the technical strength of Keppel Seghers.
“It also reinforces Keppel's leadership position as a world class technology solutions provider in waste management and renewable energy,” he added.
Keppel is set to build the plant on behalf of Ineos Runcorn TPS, the special vehicle which has been set by Viridor, Laing and Ineos Chlor to procure, operate and maintain the facility.
The company said it plans to use its Water Cooled Grate – a horizontal boiler design integrated with its prism technology – to provide enhanced heat recovery at the site, as well as its double dry flue gas cleaning system.
While the Ineos Chlor facility was awarded planning permission by then energy minister Malcolm Wicks in September 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story), but the plans have faced opposition from local residents and councillors (see letsrecycle.com story).
As well as burning fuel produced under the Greater Manchester contract, Viridor has proposed that some of the Ineos facility's remaining capacity could be filled with RDF produced from Cheshire's waste.
Viridor is currently one of two remaining bidders for Cheshire's PFI-funded waste treatment contract, and has said that it, if it wins the £1 billion deal, it would develop a “centrally located” mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facility in the county to produce the RDF to send to Ineos (see letsrecycle.com story).
Infrastructure
Last week's signing of the Greater Manchester deal has also prompted the finalising of some of the contracts that are expected to deliver infrastructure needed to get the 25-year deal off the ground.
Berkshire-based construction company Costain, which was appointed as preferred contractor by Viridor Laing for the Greater Manchester deal in January 2008 to allow it to begin preparatory work (see letsrecycle.com story), confirmed on Thursday (April 9) that it had secured the £397 million contract to design, build and commission a total of 44 facilities across 26 locations as part of the deal.
The company's chief executive, Andrew Wyllie, said: “This is a major project win for Costain. We have deliberately targeted the waste sector where we can leverage our complementary process engineering skills and expertise from our water operations.
“We intend to build a major presence in this rapidly expanding UK and European regulated marketplace, and look forward to building the waste services business into one of Costain's leading divisions,” he added.
Costain said it is expected to deliver the following facilities: 25 household waste and recycling centres (including 16 being completely redeveloped); five 100,000 tonne-a-year capacity MBT facilities; four 44,000 tonne-a-year capacity in-vessel composting (IVC) facilities; one materials recycling facility; seven waste transfer stations; and, two green waste facilities.
TEG Composting
The IVC plants required under the contract are being developed by Preston-based TEG Composting, which also confirmed that, following last week's financial close, it had sealed its £38 million deal with Costain to build the plants.
The company, which originally announced in January 2007 that it had been selected to deliver the facilities (see letsrecycle.com story), confirmed that it would be building plants with a combined capacity to process 175,000 tonnes of green and food waste a year, producing 125,000 tonnes-a-year of compost to be used in agriculture and horticulture in the region.
Building work on the first of the four facilities, in Rochdale, began in June 2008, with the remaining plants to be built in Bredbury, Bolton and Trafford Park.
TEG's chief executive, Mick Fishwick, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have concluded the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal PFI contract, which is a major endorsement of TEG and its technology. This contract reinforces TEG's position as the clear leader in the in-vessel composting market.”
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