Biossence Waste Gasification Facility Under Construction in Dagenham, UK

10 February 2011 Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London got construction gasification specialist, Biossence's £80 million large scale, 19 MW advanced gasification facility in Dagenham, Essex underway. The facility, located on a site purchased from Ford will transform household rubbish into clean energy to power up to 15,000 local homes, and is expected to be operationally in 2013. The Mayor's Climate Change and Energy Strategy want to see 25% of London's energy from low carbon facilities within London by 2025. The Waste Strategy calls for innovative solutions to dealing with London's waste and for London's waste to be used as a valuable resource. The London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) agreed a £8.9million loan to Biossence East London Ltd, some of which has been used to secure the site and complete preparation work. LWARB said that this is part of its commitment to supporting the development of new waste infrastructure in London. The Biossence plant will process solid recoverable fuel (SRF) that is residual household waste left over after recycling. The fuel will be supplied under a long term fuel supply contract from the Frog Island and Jenkins Lane Mechanical Biological Treatment plants operated by Shanks East London under the 25 year PFI contract with the East London Waste Authority. The Frog Island facility, which will provide the rubbish, is less than half a mile away from where the gasification plant is being built, so transportation is minimal, helping to cut down on carbon emissions. Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony Johnson said: "This will be a fantastic facility taking our everyday rubbish and miraculously transforming it into a valuable resource - electricity. Local people can rest easy knowing that instead of any rubbish they are unable to recycle being dumped in a landfill site and emitting harmful greenhouse gas emissions, it will be used to power their homes with green energy." James Cleverly, Chair of LWARB said "The Biossence plant perfectly demonstrates how waste can be used as a resource and it will make a valuable contribution to sustainable waste management in the capital. Not only will it help divert waste from landfill, cut carbon emissions and generate renewable energy, it will also create permanent skilled jobs." Renewable energy plays an important role in the running of Ford Motor Company's Dagenham plant, which has two existing wind turbines with a planned third on the way. However, while Ford will benefit from the energy generated by the 100,000 tonne per annum plant, the majority of the 19 MW it produces will be exported to the National Grid. Joe Greenwell, Ford of Britain Chairman, said "Not only does Dagenham produce the lowest carbon engines in the Ford world, it has often been Ford's test bed for sustainability initiatives, be it resource recovery and recycling, energy efficiency, use of renewable materials and renewable energy generation." "Our wind turbines are an obvious example and a third wind turbine is expected to be built later this year. The use of renewable energy plays an important role in Ford's comprehensive approach to improve the environmental sustainability of our plants, and the Biossence project aligns with Ford's strategy." Greenwell concluded.