Ahead of seeking planning permission for an energy from waste plant on Deeside, American firm Wheelabrator Technologies Inc has started a community consultation exercise with residents in five council area in north Wales.
EfW specialist Wheelabrator Technologies was last month named preferred bidder for a 25-year contract worth an estimated 800 million for the five councils in the North Wales Residual Waste Treatment Project (see letsrecycle.com story). The contract involves construction and operation of a 200,000 tonnes per year capacity energy-from-waste (EfW) plant for a site at Deeside Industrial Park.
Now the company is going on the offensive to try and address concerns raised about the facility and has claimed it will go beyond the typical requirements of the already stringent regulations and introduce additional air quality monitoring for the site, providing added assurance for local communities.
Gary Aguinaga, vice president of UK operations at Wheelabrator Technologies, said: We want people to ask us questions because that means we can start to address some of the concerns that have been raised, and we can demonstrate how our experience and commitment to excellence will make this a state of the art facility that North Wales can be proud of. Id encourage people to contact us, find out how they can get involved and ensure they make their views known.
The consultation runs until July 11 2014 with a series of six public exhibitions taking place in the first half of June with Wheelabrator Technologies due to a planning application to Flintshire county council later this year.
‘We want people to ask us questions because that means we can start to address some of the concerns that have been raised’
Gary Aguinaga, vice president of UK operations at Wheelabrator Technologies
Councils
The North Wales project is a joint procurement by Flintshire, Isle of Anglesey, Denbighshire and Conwy county borough councils and Gwynedd council to treat around 150,000 tonnes of residual household waste in the five authority areas per year.
According to the councils, the facility will help them towards meeting the Welsh Government target to recycle 70% of waste by 2025.
Wheelabrator Technologies had been the only firm left in the running for the contract, after SITA UK withdrew from the procurement process in early 2013 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The facility is set for development on a former steelworks site at the Deeside Industrial Park and will generate enough electricity to power around 30,000 homes per year, as well as creating heat or steam for nearby users.
According to Wheelabrator Technologies, the planned facility has been named Parc Adfer to reflect how it will help North Wales recover energy from its non-recyclable waste (Adfer meaning to recover or restore in Welsh).
In addition, the company said the development will create around 300 jobs during the construction phase and around 35 full-time jobs once the plant is operational.
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