£300m plant to produce green power from waste

It was confirmed last night that a £300m generation facility at SSE’s Ferrybridge power station in West Yorkshire is under development.

Once completed it will provide enough power for more than 160,000 homes, as well as being completely self-sufficient in terms of its own energy needs.

Enabling and preparatory work is already under way on the Ferrybridge site, a joint project between companies SSE and Wheelabrator Technologies.

Full construction is expected to begin later in the year with a view to a 2015 completion date.

Hundreds of jobs will be created during the three-year construction period, which is being carried out by Zurich-based Hitachi Zosen Inova, with more than 50 new full time jobs expected to be required once the plant is fully operational.

The site will be powered by multifuel – which is made from non-recyclable household waste. Once moisture has been removed it is then processed into pellets which is burned to produce power. The owners are at pains to point out that the generator is not a waste incinerator but uses fuel already made from waste.

This processed waste-derived fuel will be obtained from household rubbish taken from nearby Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster councils.

Waste management business Shanks Group has signed a 25-year contract worth in excess of £750m with the councils for the treatment of black bag waste.

A new facility at Bolton Road in Manvers, South Yorkshire is planned to carry out this treatment and is expected to handle up to 265,000 tonnes of household waste each year.

Consent to develop the Ferrybridge generator was received from the Department of Energy and Climate Change in October 2011.

Those behind the plans said the multifuel plant at Ferrybridge is not intended to replace the existing 1,000MW of coal capacity which is closing in 2015 owing to the European Union regulations, with SSE yet to decide on the main use of Ferrybridge Power Station.

Mark McCarthy, SSE’s senior project manager for the scheme, told the Yorkshire Post: “It will be one of the largest in the country in terms of capacity. Eight mega-watts will be used to run the plant, meaning we will be entirely self-sufficient.

“We will then export 68 mega-watts to the National Grid.”

The firm’s managing director Paul Smith said the multifuel technology was “a tried and tested way of generating clean, base-load power” and that the new investment would add to his firm’s generation portfolio.

There are currently over 440 plants using multi-fuel technology in Europe and more than 20 in the UK.

Peter Dilnot, chief executive of Shanks Group, said: “Working together with the three councils we will maximise recycling and green energy production from waste.”