Subject to receiving planning permission the plant is hoped to become operational in the first half of 2014 when it would start to receive food waste from local households and businesses. The plant will produce enough electricity to power approximately 4,000 homes.
Shanks has been shortlisted for two municipal food waste contracts with the Heads of the Valleys Waste Partnership consisting of Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly council – and the South West Wales Waste Partnership involving Bridgend, Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Swansea and Vale of Glamorgan.
However the company said that the construction of the plant is not dependent on winning these contracts. If both bids prove unsuccessful Shanks has proposed to build a smaller plant for which would handle commercial waste.
A spokeswoman for Shanks said: the proposed AD plant is not dependent on winning either one of these contracts. If Shanks is unsuccessful in both tenders, it is proposing to develop a 60,000 tonnes per annum AD plant for commercial food waste, for which there is an identifiable need in South Wales.
Energy
Ian Goodfellow, UK managing director for Shanks, said: Sending our rubbish to landfill is not only unacceptable practice these days when we have a variety of new technologies designed to create value from waste, but it also costs local councils and communities increasing amounts of money as landfill tax continues to rise.
At Shanks, we believe waste should be reused, recycled and recovered to provide valuable resources including energy. We look forward to continuing our dialogue with local residents about our proposal for a new AD plant in Pontypool later this month.
Gwynedd
Shanks isnt the only company looking to build AD facilities in Wales a technology supported by the Welsh Government. Earlier this week (March 13) Gywnedd council announced that BiogenGreenfinch had been chosen as its preferred bidder for the construction and operation of a 11,000 tonne-a-year facility in Llwyn Isaf in North West Wales (see letsrecycle.com story).
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