Viridor's Gasification, Recycling and Biogas Plant Approved in Glasgow

Viridor's plans for a £154 million recycling and gasification waste to energy facility in Glasgow have been given the green light. The company – a part of the Pennon Group (LSE: PNN) – said that the decision was made by Glasgow City Council's planning applications committee and followed an application which it had submitted in September 2012. The Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre (GRREC) is to be built in the Polmadie district of the city and will process domestic green bin residual waste in line with Scotland's zero waste agenda. According to Viridor, the approval for the application marks a key milestone in a its partnership with Glasgow City Council to overhaul the way in which the city manages its residual waste over the next twenty-five years, diverting it from landfill. The GRREC will operate a three step process, which Viridor said will comprise a Smart Materials Recycling Facility to enhance recycling, Anaerobic Digestion to capture food and organic material and an Advanced Conversion Facility to recover energy from the post-recycled residual waste using gasification technology. The company has previously stated that it intends to use technology supplied by Energos in gasification plant. Viridor claimed that the GRREC will deliver widespread benefits through the £154m investment, including: Supportting a city-wide strategy focused on waste reduction and reuse and enhanced recycling Generating enough energy to power the equivalent of 22,000 households and heating for 8000 homes Saving 90,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year Saving the city £254 million over the 25 year contract Creating of 254 jobs, including a range of professional, skilled and new entrant roles including apprenticeships with an annual local salary bill of £1.5 million A full package of community benefits focused on employment and training, opportunities for SMEs and social enterprises, and a range of education benefits including the recently announced city-wide GO4SET schools partnership with the Engineering Development Trust. The company said that construction will commence in summer 2013 with completion in early 2016. "This is a great step forward for Glasgow on the road to becoming one of Europe's most sustainable cities," commented Councillor Gordon Matheson, leader of Glasgow City Council. "Without this facility, we would not only be faced with the depressing prospect of piling millions of tonnes of waste into the ground over the coming years; but we would also pay through the nose to do it," he added. Read More Plasma Gasification Turning Waste to Fuel in China Chinese company, Wuhan Kaidi has completed the commissioning of an Alter NRG plasma gasification waste to biofuel system at its demonstration facility in Wuhan, China. 90MW Waste to Energy Plant Secures Power Purchase Agreement in Hawaii The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission has approved an amended power purchase agreement for the Hawaiian Electric Company to buy electricity from Covanta's expanded HPOWER waste to energy plant. Viridor's Peterborough Waste to Energy Alterations Approved Peterborough and City Council has approved amendments to waste and recycling company, Viridor's plans for a waste to energy plant in Fengate.