Bioenergy and Waste News

Tuesday 11 August 2009

An artist's impression of the Resource Recovery Park in Cheshire

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has today (August 11) granted planning permission for a refuse-derived fuel plant in Cheshire designed to generate 95MW of heat and power from 600,000 tonnes of waste each year.

The merchant-sized plant is being developed as part of a 100 hectare Resource Recovery Park at Ince near Helsby by Peel Environmental, which is the waste and energy subsidiary of Manchester-based property and transport company Peel Group.

Proposals for the plant and the Resource Recovery Park had originally been refused planning permission by the now-defunct Cheshire county council in 2006. However, Peel appealed the decision to the Secretary of State for communities and local government in January 2008 leading to a public inquiry.

Inspectors then recommended that the government should be grant consent for the construction and operation of the plant and also that planning permission be given for the Resource Recovery Park.

Announcing the decision, energy and climate change minister Lord Hunt said: "We need to increase our use of renewable energy and to find solutions to the UK's waste problem. This power plant will convert over half a million tonnes of waste each year into energy.

"The Inspector recommended the power plant be granted consent after a thorough public inquiry. I am satisfied that the mitigation measures to be put in place will protect the amenity of local villages," he added.

Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 states that proposals to construct power stations with a capacity greater than 50 MW requires the Secretary of State for energy and climate change's consent.

Separate planning permission for the Resource Recovery Park was given today by Secretary of State for communities and local government John Denham.

Plans

Under Peel Environmental's plans, a range of reprocessing activities are expected to take place on the site, including biodiesel and ethanol production, soil treatment and the re-use and recycling of plastic, wood, glass and waste electrical and electronic equipment.

The refuse-derived fuel (RDF) facility is set to treat municipal, commercial and industrial waste, with around 105MW of electricity being generated by conversion of heat recovered from the combustion process. Then 95MW would be available to export to the local electricity network and the national grid.

RDF used in the facility is set to be sourced from a mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facility, which is being developed in the resource recovery park alongside a materials recycling facility, an in-vessel composting plant and an industrial and commercial waste transfer station. Further RDF may also be sourced from commercial and industrial waste streams.

No-one at Peel Environmental was available for comment.