Wheelabrator wins first UK contract

The firm, which has UK headquarters in London, is set to join with Swiss energy-from-waste specialist AE&E Inova (formerly Von Roll Inova) for management, operational and technical support work on the 670,000 tonnes-a-year capacity energy-from-waste plant once it becomes operational in May 2011.

The arrangement is set to last for five years, with London-based Cory appointing Wheelabrator to work alongside AE&E Inova in a bid to help maximise performance of the plant.

Gary Aguinaga, UK operations vice president at Wheelabrator, said: “We are delighted to be involved in the operation of one of the UK's leading energy-from-waste facilities.

“The depth of our 35-year energy-from-waste plant operating experience is in the US and our long-term technology partnership with AE&E Inova, give us an excellent foundation to support Cory Environmental in delivering best practice and operational excellence at the Riverside project.”

Wheelabrator entered the UK waste market in June 2008 under a partnership agreement with waste management firm Shanks Group having developed a portfolio of 22 energy-from-waste facilities across the United States over the past 35 years (see letsrecycle.com story).

AE&E Inova is currently the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the plant, with Wheelabrator set to assume some of the Swiss firm's obligations once the plant becomes operational.

Riverside

The £360 million Belvedere incinerator began to take shape earlier this month after over 15 years of planning delays and is on track to become operational in May 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story).

Once complete, the plant is expected to treat 585,000 tonnes-a-year of residual waste from the Western Riverside Waste Authority, City of London and the London borough of Bexley. It is licensed to process up to 670,000 tonnes-a-year of waste.

Malcolm Ward, chief executive of Cory Environmental, said: “Cory Environmental is committed to achieving world-class performance standards at our new Riverside facility. With Wheelabrator Technologies and AE&E Inova, we have assembled a team representing the best in the industry worldwide.

“Wheelabrator Technologies is a leader in the US energy-from-waste market, with an outstanding management team and decades of demonstrated operating excellence”.

This is not the first working arrangement between Wheelabrator and Cory Environmental, who have joined together to reach the two-strong shortlist of bidders for the Norfolk county council PFI-funded waste treatment contract (see letsrecycle.com story) and the six-bidder list for Project Transform PFI deal in the West Midlands (see letsrecycle.com story).