Secretary of State Greg Clark yesterday (2 June) approved the plant, more than 18 months after the planning application was signed off by Nottinghamshire county council in November 2014.
The facility, which would handle commercially-sourced waste and recyclables, includes a front-end materials recycling facility (MRF) and 117,000 tonnes-per-year capacity plasma gasification plant to generate energy for the Grid.
Mr Clark’s, predecessor Eric Pickles, called in the application following protest from some residents and anti-incineration groups in the area (see letsrecycle.com story).
A decision on the plant, which was due in April, was set back after the United Kingdom Without Incineration Network (UKWIN), and Conservative MP for Sherwood Mark Spencer, informed the Secretary of State that the Bilsthorpe plant was due to use the same technology as Air Products’ ill-fated Tees Valley project.
Air Products
Air Products announced its intention to exit the energy from waste business in April, citing ‘design and operational challenges’ at its two proposed 350,000 tonne-per-year capacity plasma gasification plants in Teesside (see letsrecycle.com story).
However in reaching his verdict, Mr Clark said that the “design and operational challenges” of the Air Products plants have not been made public – while the technology proposed to be used at Bilsthorpe is “demonstrably proven and in operation elsewhere”.
Mr Clark went on to conclude that he does not have “sufficient information” on which to base a Regulation 22 request for additional environmental information on the issues raised.
According to Peel, the Westinghouse Plasma Corp – the developer behind the plasma gasification technology for the plant – has shown the technology to be operational in Japan since 2002.
Plasma is created by funnelling air through ‘electric arcs’ within sophisticated torches. Once it has been heated to more than 3,000 degrees celsius, the plasma is then fed into a gasifier – an oxygen-starved vessel where the waste can be treated.
The Bilsthorpe plant plan had also come under fire for its ‘visual impact’ on the area, as well as concerns over air quality, noise, odour and the effect on local wildlife.
But the planning report reads: “The Secretary of State concludes that scheme would constitute sustainable development under the terms of the Framework and that it is in accordance with the development plan for the area when read as a whole. He is also satisfied that, in terms of the planning balance, the adverse impacts of the development proposed would be significantly and demonstrably outweighed by the benefits.”
UKWIN
Commenting on the decision, Mr Spencer said local residents were being “experimented on”, while Shlomo Dowen of the UKWIN, argued that Peel “acknowledged” Bilsthorpe would use the same Westinghouse plasma gasification technology system that had run into problems at Tees Valley.
Mr Dowen added: “Given that Peel and Waste2Tricity admit that they do not know what went so badly wrong at Tees Valley, it is difficult to imagine how they will learn any lessons from that billion dollar failure. We are not reassured that the problems Air Products encountered and could not overcome at Tees Valley would be avoided at Bilsthorpe.”
But welcoming the government’s approval, Richard Barker, development manager at Peel Environmental, said the Energy Centre would create new jobs, supply chain opportunities, and boost the local economy by around £4 million per year.
He said: “There’s a need for this type of facility to provide both a solution for Nottinghamshire’s waste and to generate low-carbon energy for the region. Our plans will stimulate investment and bring new jobs to the area in addition to bringing a former industrial site back into productive use.”
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