66 MW Waste to Energy Facility Officially Opened in Bexley

28 May 201 London based waste management company, Cory Environmental has officially opened its 66 MW Riverside Resource Recovery (RRR) waste to energy facility at Belvedere in Bexley. According to the company the new facility will play a crucial role in the integrated waste management solution which it has developed to process London's waste, and will help the capital to meet its landfill diversion and renewable energy targets for the next 30 years. Cory said that the RRR facility will process an average of 585,000 tonnes of non- recyclable residual waste each year, generating 66 MW of electricity for export to the National Grid - enough to power around 100,000 homes. The company also claimed that the facility is currently the largest waste to energy plant in the UK, and one of the most efficient. Operation The waste combustion process will be carefully and continuously monitored to ensure, for example, that minimum combustion temperatures exceed 850 degrees C. The company added that energy will be recovered from the flue gases through specialist, high efficiency boilers. The turbine has the capability to supply up to 30 MW of steam/heat and up to 72 MW of electricity. Approximately 6 MW of this will be used in the plant with the remainder generating at 11Kv and transforming on site up to 132Kv for export to the grid, according to Cory. Exhaust steam from the turbine will be condensed by a bank of air-cooled condensers. The facility is expected to produce around 170,000 tonnes of Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA) each year, which the company said will be transported by river to Tilbury in Essex where it is used to make aggregate for the construction sector. "The process of taking control and commencing operations at the plant has been very smooth. The plant is about to start its availability trials which are the final phase of commissioning and it is already exporting electricity to the National Grid," explained Peter Gerstrom, chief executive of Cory Environmental. A new jetty has been built at the site, which will enable around half a million tonnes of residual waste to be delivered by barge to the Riverside Resource Recovery facility each year Transport links The majority of the waste that will be treated by the facility comes from four London boroughs - Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham, Lambeth and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Cory added that it also holds contracts with the London Borough of Bexley, the City of London and Westminster City Council, and the facility also takes commercial and industrial waste from the surrounding area. All but 85,000 tonnes of the waste will be delivered in enclosed containers to the plant via the River Thames and offloaded at the new jetty. The waste will be loaded onto barges at the company's existing river-served transfer stations at Walbrook Wharf in the City of London, Cringle Dock in Battersea and Smugglers Way in Wandsworth. Container handing cranes will offload these containers, place them onto specialist container vehicles which will transport them to a fully enclosed waste reception hall in the main building. Waste delivered by road will access the waste reception hall directly by ramp. Once inside all vehicles will discharge their loads into the waste storage bunker. Cory also explained that to prevent the escape of odours, dust or litter, air from the reception hall and bunker area will be drawn into the waste combustion units creating a slight negative pressure. Funding According to Cory financial close on the project was reached in July 2008, and followed protracted negotiations. Finance is provided by a term facility of up to £470 million by the Bank of Ireland, Barclays Capital and Calyon as joint lead arrangers. Cory said that it acted throughout the financing process as sole project sponsor and equity provider. Approximately £80 million of equity finance will be provided to the project by Cory. Read More Veolia Waste to Energy Facility to Supply District Heating in Southwark An underground pipe network to bring heat from Veolia's Lewisham waste to energy facility into the heart of six housing estates is to be built in partnership with Southwark council. Rapid Progress at 20 MW Waste to Energy Facility on Teesside Over 26,000 tonnes of concrete has been poured and more than 2500 tonnes of steel used in the first year of construction at SITA UK's 20 MW waste to energy facility at Haverton Hill on Teesside. Pickles Wins in Cornwall Waste to Energy Incinerator Appeal SITA UK's plans for a £117 million waste to energy facility in St Denis, Cornwall look set to proceed following a court of appeal decision to permit Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State's appeal and confirmation of the validity of the his decision to grant planning permission. Free Magazine Subscription Free Email Newsletter