Europe promises cash for energy recycling

Spencer Group, the company behind the Energy Works scheme, has also confirmed it is in discussions with the Government’s Green Investment Bank over potential funding.

Energy Works will use a mixture of technologies including composting, anaerobic digestion and burning to turn waste into enough power for 25,000 homes.

Charlie Spencer, chief executive of Hull-based Spencer Group, described the promise of ERDF funding as a “major piece” of the finance needed to get it off the ground.

He said: “There are a variety of sources of funding we are looking at. The major one is the Green Investment Bank and they have been very positive about our scheme.”

Energy Works will be the first plant in the UK to use a technology known as fluidised bed gasification which burns waste at lower temperatures and produces lower emissions than traditional incinerators.

It will be fuelled by as much as 200,000 tonnes of waste a year and employ 60 people. The plant is expected to start processing waste in April 2015.

Communities Minister Baroness Hanham announced the £19.9m grant during a visit to Hull yesterday where she saw the proposed site in Cleveland Street.

She said: “This plant will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to the security and diversity of the energy supply.

“This investment will create highly skilled jobs and contributes to the Humber area’s growing reputation as one of the best places in the world to develop environmental energy businesses.”