Levenseat brings EFW in-house as Outotec exits

In a statement yesterday (1 May), the company explained that Levenseat Renewable Energy Ltd, a company set up by Levenseat in 2015 to deliver the plant, will now operate the gasifier.

Levenseat said it took the decision because of Metso Outotec’s “plans to exit the energy from waste market in the UK”. All staff based at the LREL Power Plant will transfer to LREL as of 1 May 2023

Commenting on the announcement, Bruce Moffatt, general manager for LREL said: “We are delighted to formally complete the transfer and welcome our colleagues into the LREL family.

“Today marks the start of a new chapter for the team at LREL, bringing the contract in house will allow us to continue with business as usual. As we enter this new chapter, we would like to take the opportunity to thank Metso Outotec for their support over the years.”

Levenseat Renewable Energy Ltd was formed in 2015 to develop the merchant EfW gasifier facility at Levenseat with investment from Bioenergy Infrastructure Group and Zouk Capital.

Dispute

Finnish technology company Metso Outotec was established in 2020 when Outotec and Metso Minerals merged.

Metso Outotec has reported the waste-to-energy business as a “discontinued operation since the merger and is no longer offering these solutions to its customers”.

Prior to the merger however, Qutotec signed a £55 million contract with LREL in 2015, which the company said “represents its life-cycle orientated approach”.

The company is currently in an ongoing legal dispute with MW High Tech Projects UK Limited in connection with three unnamed waste-to-energy plants in the UK.

In February, Metso Qutotec said it provided gasification technology to the three facilities prior to the merger and is facing a “various claims against Metso Outotec and Metso Outotec has significant counterclaims in the litigation”.

Gasifier

Levenseat’s £110 million gasification plant was granted permission in 2019 to increase its capacity to 750,00 tonnes per year (see letsrecycle.com story).

Once waste arrives at the plant, any recyclables material such as metals, paper and plastic are removed by the MRF, leaving a residual RDF fuel.

This is then sent to the EfW plant where it will be gasified in a fluidised bed to create syngas, which will then undergo further combustion to produce heat. This heat will then be used to produce steam to produce electricity.