The 350,000 tonne facility is being proposed to serve an upcoming contract to treat residual waste on behalf of the councils of Cardiff, Caerphilly, Newport, The Vale of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, who have formed a partnership known as “Project Gwyrdd”.
The proposed facility will only take residual waste that cannot be recycled or composted. The proposals are based on the Welsh Assembly Government's highest targets for recycling and composting rates being achieved
Spokesman, Viridor Waste Management
However, the plans have already come under fire from environmentalists, such as Friends of the Earth, with concerns being raised that the plant could damage recycling rates (see letsrecycle.com story).
And, with the Welsh Assembly Government keen on capping energy-from-waste, and the technology not eligible for the Sustainable Waste Management Grant for local authorities, it is unclear how the proposal will fit into the wider picture.
Proposals
Under Viridor's proposal, the EfW facility would be built on the site of a former cathode ray tube production plant in Trident Park, between Ocean Way and the docks, which is owned by property company PMG Estates Ltd.
The firm's first municipal waste incinerator, the plant would be capable of producing 30MW of energy a year using Combined Heat and Power (CHP) technology, to be fed into the National Grid.
And, a spokesman for the company confirmed that Viridor was “developing a heat plan”, adding that “businesses situated on Trident Park could benefit from this excess heat.”
The proposal was put out for public consultation last week, with a planning application expected to be submitted in October. Viridor envisages that it will take around a year to gain approval, and another three years to build the facility.
Viridor's spokesman told letsrecycle.com that if planning permission was granted, the company would be looking to take waste from Project Gwyrdd – Welsh for Project Green – which was set up to explore a sustainable solution for waste management across the South-East Wales region and is expected to go out to tender for regional residual waste treatment capacity soon.
He said: “Viridor with the proposed development at Trident Park considers that it would be well placed to respond to the anticipated procurement process with a high technology solution offering maximum sustainability.”
He added: “Landfill is running out in Cardiff so we need to come up with a solution quickly. If planning permission is granted Viridor will be looking to take waste from other local authorities as well. The plant could fulfil the needs of a large part of South Wales.”
Assembly
According to the Welsh Assembly's guidance on energy from waste, Combined Heat and Power plants are the most efficient form of energy from waste.
It also advocates only recovering energy from residual waste that remains after as much recyclable and compostable material as practically possible has been removed -something which Viridor have pledged to do.
However, the Assembly is considering capping energy from waste at 30% as part of its revised waste strategy, due out for public consultation this Autumn, and has expressed a desire to limit the technology – with possible implications for Viridor's plans.
It said: “The Assembly Government's preference is to decrease the usage of landfills and energy from waste, in order to reach targets set out in the National Waste Strategy for Wales. At present the Assembly will not allow its Sustainable Waste Management Grant to Local Authorities to be used to fund heat treatment other than oxygen free digestion processes.”
With the Assembly's position still yet to be clarified in detail, the councils within Project Gwyrdd have revealed they cannot yet tender for a new facility or choose what project it will pursue.
A update to members of the Prosiect Gwyrdd Project at the end of July said: “Project Gwyrdd now has a business case and has done the majority of the work needed to ask councils whether we should go to tender for a facility but, as mentioned above, is delayed by a lack of knowledge and funding.”
It added: “There remains confusion … into how much waste can be practically recycled and into how much funding WAG will be allowing for the project. These are fundamental issues for the project and ones which WAG are still considering.”
Criteria
Despite the potential Assembly constraints on Energy-from-Waste, the Virdor spokesman told letsrecycle.com that “the Viridor proposals take into full account the criteria set out by the Welsh Assembly Government for Energy from Waste plants.”
He added: “The proposed facility will only take residual waste that cannot be recycled or composted. The proposals are based on the Welsh Assembly Government's highest targets for recycling and composting rates being achieved.”
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