£150m ‘green’ power station leaps hurdle

PLANS for a state-of-the-art “green” power station which will use waste to power thousands of homes have passed a key milestone.

The European Commission said the proposals for the £150m plant, which is seeking £20m European funding, conformed with competition rules.

The Energy Works plant, earmarked for the former council-owned Dalton Street waste depot and the former ADM cocoa mills site on Cleveland Street, in Hull, will use a combination of the latest technologies developed to handle waste, advanced gasification and anaerobic digestion, in what will be a first for the UK.

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The EC said there was “potential to roll-out future projects throughout Europe.”

A decision on the grant application is expected within weeks.

Joaquín Almunia, Commission Vice-President in charge of competition policy said: “This plant will produce electricity from partially biodegradable waste without unduly distorting competition in the internal market.

“This will allow the UK to diversify its electricity sources and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

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Hull-based Spencer Group chief executive Charlie Spencer said he was “reasonably confident” of getting the European Regional Development Fund aid: “Just getting over this is removing a major hurdle; it means legally the EC can issue the monies.”

Final approval could happen in a week or several months, he said.

Construction of the plant - which could begin next year on the 12-acre site on the east bank of the river Hull - holds out the prospect of cheaper electricity for 25,000 homes in the area.

The green electricity could be five per cent cheaper, as the company wouldn’t have to pay national transmission charges.

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The developers say it will create 200 jobs while it is being built and 60 permanent jobs.

The plant will use processed fuels - rather than binliners full of rubbish - derived from a variety of sources, including waste wood and biodegradable commercial and industrial solid waste.

As well as electricity, it will produce heat of up to 50 degrees centigrade needed for the anaerobic digestion part of the process, in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen.

The EC said gasification was “considered to be an emerging technology in the waste treatment sector because it allows a cleaner and more efficient recovery of energy from waste than through traditional techniques.”

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Hull and East Ridijng councils recently announced they were inviting companies to apply for waste contracts worth £200m over a 10-year period.

Rather than letting one big contract this time, the councils have broken it into various lots, dealing with everything from managing household waste recycling sites to composting.

Mr Spencer said it was “highly likely” they would offer the services of the new plant to a number of potential providers for the waste contract.

He said: “I think we should be very competitive. It does provide a very green local solution to local waste as opposed to some of the technologies previously offered.

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“There are obvious benefits to dealing with waste locally, removing transport from the roads and providing local jobs.

“If we provide electricity from the plant for the local area, then we will be providing green cheaper electricity ”

The new contract will start in 2014, following the end of the councils’ contract with FCC Environmental, formerly Waste Recycling Group, which got planning permission but failed to build an incinerator at Saltend, near Hull, after costs soared.

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