Viridor has opened its last ever landfill gas facility in the UK at a site in South Lanarkshire, but stressed that the technology will still have a role to play in its renewable energy strategy for decades to come.
The Taunton-based waste company opened the facility at East Kilbride last week (July 5), adding 2.3 megawatts (MW) of installed electricity generating capacity to a landfill gas portfolio that now totals 111MW across the UK.
Marking the opening, the company said that it represented a transition from a time when landfill gas was the UKs largest source of renewable energy to its focus on investing in recycling, other renewable energy and sustainable waste technologies.
Viridors director of waste to energy, Dick Turner, said: The UK recycling, renewable energy and sustainable waste sector is changing. Across the UK, consumers, corporates and councils are focusing on waste reduction, reuse, enhanced recycling and recovering value from what remains.
Viridor has a strong tradition of leading innovation and investment, from pioneering renewable power from landfill gas to today standing as the UKs largest recycler by MRF capacity, with investment in AD, gasification and energy from waste.
He added: Whilst proud of our achievements, we now look to the future. The challenge is now to deliver a mix of modern, proven next generation technologies to translate zero waste policies into practice, to drive recycling and to recover energy from what remains just as we always have.
Investment
The company has invested 39 million in landfill gas since 1986 and still expects the technology to play a part in its renewable energy generation portfolio for some time to come.
Viridors technical manager for waste to energy, Ian Morrish, told letsrecycle.com: The situation is that where we can extract landfill gas and utilise it we have. We have over 100 megawatts installed capacity across the country.
This is the last virgin scheme – all of our operating sites have got landfill gas extraction on them where possible.
But, he added: Its not that were moving away from landfill gas, its that landfill gas is declining as waste moves away from landfill.
Mr Morrish stressed that, while the company would not be installing any new landfill gas facilities, electricity would still be generated from existing facilities for 10s of years, rather than hundreds, adding the general industry view is were talking 20 or 30 years.
He acknowledged that, for the industry as a whole, delivering new landfill gas energy capacity had been made hard by the fact that the technology now received only of a ROC subsidy. This is a far less than for anaerobic digestion and other less widely-used renewables technologies.
REA
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The East Kilbride facility was opened by Gaynor Hartnell, chief executive of the Renewable Energy Association, who said: As a nation we must focus on the many economic and environmental opportunities which renewables present.
Its entirely appropriate to recognise the pioneering role that landfill gas generation played in the development of the sector. It blazed a trail for other technologies to follow and in doing so developed UK capabilities which today mean a more sustainable future for us all.
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