Novera reports progress on London fuel plant

The project, to be located on a Ford Motor Company site, was originally due to be one of Defra's New Technology Demonstrator plants, but was forced to pull out last year due to delays in getting the 90,000-tonne-capacity plant off the ground (see letsrecycle.com story) .

However, now the renewable energy firm has claimed that it is making progress on the development and is negotiating arrangements with construction contractors and neighbouring waste firm Shanks Waste Management, which is expected to provide fuel to the plant produced by its Frog Island mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facility.

The Ford Motor Company is also expected to become a customer for some of the 10MW of electricity the gasification plant will produce.

Novera has already received planning permission for the project from the London Thames Gateway Corporation in 2006 (see letsrecycle.com story).

Writing in the company's 2007 annual report, published this month, company chairman Roy Franklin said: “The 10MW East London Sustainable Energy Facility (ELSEF) is progressing well. We are also engaged in a number of follow-up projects.”

“Following the Government's announcement that they will double the support for renewable power from biomass gasification through the ROC system, we continue to progress the East London Sustainable Energy Facility,” the report added.

“We are close to finalising the key commercial contracts with our prospective Engineering, Procurement and Construction (‘EPC') contractors, Shanks East London and Ford Motor Company.”

Brent Cross

In its annual report, Novera revealed that it has also been assisting Multiplex Developments and their partners in the conceptual design for a gasification/Combined Heat Power (‘CHP') facility to be integrated into the proposed Brent Cross Cricklewood Energy Centre.

The plant will burn a refuse-derived fuel created from commercial and household waste which has had recyclable materials extracted.

Domestic waste from the development will be delivered to the new handling facility using an automated waste collection system, consisting of a network of buried pipes along which waste is moved.

Initially it is estimated that 40% of household and 60% of commercial waste will be recycled, rising to 70% by 2020.

The company said: “The facility would provide in excess of 15MW of electricity and
30MW of heat to the proposed commercial and retail development in North London.”

Fuel

With the Novera plant still to be built, fuel from Shanks' two mechanical biological treatment plants at Frog Island and Jenkins lane in East London is being sent to outlets including cement kilns run by Cemex.

Last week, Cemex announced that it had secured Environment Agency permission to use the fuel – known as Climafuel- permanently to replace 20% of fossil fuels at its Barrington cement kiln in Cambridgeshire.

Climafuel has been used on a trial basis at the site since 2006 and already 10,000 tonnes have been diverted from landfill.

This is equivalent to 8% of Cambridgeshire's landfill volume, the company estimated.

A company spokeswoman said: “Cemex welcomes the EA decision, which is key to improving the company's environmental performance and will help to ensure that quality cement from the plant is provided as sustainably as possible. Using alternative fuels at Barrington is providing a solution for the waste problem and will create, by helping to divert waste from landfill and preserving fossil fuels for future generations.”

Barrington is the second plant at which Cemex now burns Climafuel on a regular basis after its cement kiln in South Ferriby in Lincolnshire, and the company is also trialling the material at its Rugby cement works (see letsrecycle.com story).