Northacre Renewable Energy Limited(“NREL”), which is owned by Bioenergy Infrastructure Group, a UK independent power producer, and The Hills Group, a Wiltshire-based waste management, quarrying and house building company, has submitted a renewed planning application to Wiltshire Council for its proposed £200m energy-from-waste (“EFW”) plant.
As the proposed facility’s technology has now been updated from gasification to a conventional moving grate combustion process, a new planning application was required. Alongside this application, NREL also plans to submit its application to the Environment Agency for an environmental permit to operate the facility, shortly after the validation of the Planning Application.
The project will turn thousands of tonnes of the region’s household and business residual waste into low carbon energy that would otherwise be buried in landfill sites or needlessly exported to Europe as fuel for similar energy from waste facilities. Residual waste is waste material which is left over after economically recyclable material has been removed from the waste stream.
Prior to the submission, NREL undertook a pre-application consultation process, inviting feedback and questions from the local community. This is ahead of a mandatory six-week consultation process the council is obliged to follow following the submission of an application. While our pre-consultation work commenced prior to Covid-19, community engagement was then adapted accordingly via the hosting of a virtual event. This provided an opportunity to present the updated proposal and invitations were emailed directly to local stakeholders including MPs, representatives of Wiltshire Council, Westbury Town Council and the Westbury Gasification Action Group, among other groups.
64 people attended the event live and all those who registered to attend the event subsequently received a link to the on-demand version (also available for download off the NREL website) as well as details regarding the submission of any supplementary questions during the pre-application consultation process. While NREL’s pre application consultation process has now closed, any member of the local community who wishes to contact NREL can do so via email or via their online contact us.
NREL estimates that the proposed EFW plant will process around 243,000 tonnes of residual waste from businesses and households, much of which will be collected locally. The facility is expected to have a generating capacity of 25.6MW and produce around 201,000MWh/year, enough to meet the average annual domestic power requirements of just over 54,000 homes. Analysis by leading independent experts identifies around 61% of the approximately 750,000 tonnes per annum of residual waste from businesses within the catchment area of the facility is currently being landfilled.
The new scheme also includes provision for electric vehicle charging stations to support the transition to electric vehicles in Westbury for staff, suppliers and visitors. Once operational, the facility will support 40 permanent, skilled jobs. During the construction phase, at peak activity, there will be around 450 construction workers employed.
The Committee for Climate Change has called for greater private sector investment in energy-from-waste capacity in the UK as part of the country’s path to a zero-carbon economy. In addition, Policy Connect, the cross-party think tank, released a research paper in July exploring the residual waste policy and the future role of EfW in the context of both net-zero and Covid-19 recovery. A culmination of a six-month study involving 50 organisations, and supported by 12 politicians from across the house, the report concluded: “EfW has an important role to play in the transition ahead of us: both as the lowest carbon solution for managing residual waste, but also by providing low carbon heat and supporting other sectors’ decarbonisation efforts.”
An NREL Spokesperson comments: “At a time of significant economic uncertainty, the Northacre facility represents a £200m investment in Wiltshire’s economy with enough low-carbon electricity generated to power 54,000 homes. The proposed technology with established supply chains and improved deliverability will enable us to provide a responsible solution for this residual waste [from households and businesses] whilst generating much needed low carbon electricity. We take our local responsibilities extremely seriously and will continue our high level of engagement with all our stakeholders, including local communities, to ensure any concerns are addressed appropriately.”
