Plans submitted for 120m Tees Valley EfW plant

The proposal, submitted to the council yesterday (July 31) by SITA UK, would involve investment of around £120 million in a new energy-from-waste facility and includes the provision to develop a railhead to lessen traffic at the site.

The North East Energy Recovery Centre (NEERC) has a proposed capacity of 256,000 tonnes of household and commercial waste a year, although there are not contracts currently in place.

It would be built on land next to SITA UK's existing energy-from-waste facility in Tees Valley, which currently handles 250,000 tonnes of waste a year from Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesborough, Hartlepool, Redcar & Cleveland and other surrounding areas.

Graham Ingelson, general manager at the Tees Valley energy-from-waste facility, said: “The NEERC will be an important development of the north east region and will help confirm the Tees Valley as a centre for energy recovery.”

Construction of the new site would allow SITA UK to handle a combined total of around 640,000 tonnes of waste annually in the area, and will see the company's presence in the north east even further enhanced as it currently handles Northumberland's 28-year, PFI-funded, waste management contract (see letsrecycle.com story).

Railhead

As part of the planning application, SITA UK also included the proposal to develop a railhead at the site in Billingham, which the company hopes will lessen the amount of lorry journeys made and improve the sustainability of the operation. The company did mention that the railhead could be used by other businesses nearby if the demand is there.

In addition, the proposed site would be able to generate 21 megawatts of electricity from the process and mean that SITA UK would be producing 50MW of electricity from its two facilities in the Tees Valley.

Mr Ingelson said: “We believe that energy-from-waste is an efficient way to deal with waste that cannot be recycled or composted. The proposed NEERC will alone produce sufficient electricity (21MW) each year to power a town the size of Hartlepool.

“It will also be capable of providing heat that can be piped into local industries, helping to reduce their energy needs and reduce the use of fossil fuels,” he added.

Decision

SITA UK consulted stakeholders and members of the community near the site on the edge of the River Tees, and a decision regarding the planning application is expected to be made before the end of the year.

Mr Ingelson said: “In April, the company held an exhibition to introduce our plans to key partners, stakeholders and residents living near the proposed plant. We received a very positive response and have agreed to continue to work closely with all interested parties during construction and especially once the facility is up and running.”

SITA UK is currently expanding the capacity of its existing Tees Valley site to 136,000 tonnes by adding a third line to the plant in order to take Northumberland's waste, while it hopes to have the new facility operational by early 2012.