Plans to build an energy from waste and biomass-fuelled power station near Peterborough which its developers claim will work on a "100% recovery/recycling basis" have been approved by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Peterborough Renewable Energy Ltd (PREL) was told last week that it can now start construction on the facility, which is to generate power from 650,000 tonnes of commercial, agricultural and other waste, as well as biomass and energy crops. The plans were originally proposed in October 2007 (see this letsrecycle.com story) and submitted in January this year.
PREL claimed that the site would be situated in an "Energy Park" and work on a 100% recovery/recycling basis, providing a "zero-landfill solution for society's rubbish".
The company claimed that using its "magic wand solution" the plant would be the first in the UK to take mixed waste and recycle and remanufacture every single element to produce renewable energy, glass, building blocks, metals and compounds.
Plasma melting
The plant is set to use mechanical recycling, food waste digestion, gasification, and plasma melting to deal with waste materials. This last process uses electrically charged gas to break materials apart into components such as hydrogen and carbon, then turns these into a synthesis gas, which can be used to generate energy.
No contracts are in place to supply the waste or for the offtake of the 80MW of power and 234MW of thermal power produced, but PREL said this could be used by other businesses on the park
Backing the plans, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said that the plant could deliver 10% of the East of England's renewable energy target of 17% by 2020.
And, energy and climate change minister David Kidney said that the plant could be the first of many similar biomass facilities.
He said: "The UK needs to generate 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, and energy from biomass could contribute as much as a third of that. Meeting our target means we have to follow the East of England's example and build more plants like this."
Chris Williams, managing director of PREL, said he was delighted at the government's decision: "As a nation we have set ourselves very ambitious renewables targets and only by embracing renewable technologies such as PREL's will we be able to achieve these."
Energy Park
PREL said that it hoped this would be the first in a future nationwide network of the Energy Parks, which would "eliminate all need for future landfill."
The MP for Peterborough, Stewart Jackson, said he was proud that PREL would be based in his constituency.
"Innovative initiatives such as these are exactly what we need to help us to meet our renewables targets and confirm our place as a leader in renewables technology," he said.
"I look forward to seeing the positive environmental benefits that the Energy Park will bring for Peterborough, significantly reducing our carbon footprint, diverting waste from landfill and creating jobs in green industry," added Mr Jackson.
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