Work begins on Peterborough EfW plant

Construction work has formally started on Viridors 85,000 tonnes per year capacity energy-from-waste plant in Fengate, Peterborough.

Senior representatives from Peterborough city council today (October 23) joined Viridor and construction partners UK-based Interserve and Danish firm Babcock & Wilcox Volund for a formal ground-breaking ceremony at the site to mark the start of building work.

It follows grounds preparation and the demolition of buildings on the councils recycling site in the Fengate industrial area earlier this summer. According to Viridor, 95% of the materials from the demolition of previous buildings were reused or recycled.

The facility is part of a 30-year Public Private Partnership (PPP) deal signed by Viridor on February 1 2013 to treat the city councils residual waste (see letsrecycle.com story).

The value of the contract has not been disclosed, but a spokesman for Viridor previously confirmed a 75 million capital investment in the project.

Peterborough waste

Peterborough currently produces approximately 90,000 tonnes of waste per year, which is set to increase to 140,000 tonnes by 2040. Around 43% is currently recycled, with the remaining 50,000 tonnes of residual waste currently sent to landfill.

According to Peterborough city council, the Fengate facility will be designed to handle this increase and also provide treatment for commercial and industrial waste from Viridors existing operations in the area.

Viridor claims the EfW plant will be one of the most efficient of its kind when it becomes operational by the end of 2015 and will virtually eliminate landfill disposal locally.

It has been designed to achieve around 94% landfill diversion and will have a net power generation capacity of 7.25MW the equivalent energy required to power 15% of homes in Peterborough.

25 permanent jobs are expected to be created at the plant with hundreds more throughout construction.

Delighted

Peterborough city councils cabinet member for culture, recreation and waste management, Gavin Elsey, said: Today marks not only the beginning of the construction phase of this new facility, but also the beginning of the end of our use of landfill in Peterborough. We very much look forward to being able to turn waste that we cant recycle into something genuinely useful – green electricity.

Paul Rowland, regional manager for Viridor, commented: We are delighted to be working in partnership with Peterborough City Council because it has a clear strategy and plan in place to become the UKs environment capital and were committed to contribute towards that goal both throughout construction and once the facility is in operation. I am proud of the good progress weve made and the outstanding levels of safety and materials recovery to date.

The start of construction comes a month after chartered civil engineer Ian McAulay took over as the new chief executive of Viridor following Colin Drummond OBEs retirement from the role (see letsrecycle.com story).