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Pioneering Energy From Waste Project Is On Schedule

17th September 2007

Construction work on the Isle of Wight will begin this month to install groundbreaking government-backed technology that creates green energy from waste.

A new £8 million gasification plant - the first of its type in the UK - will generate 2.3MW of electricity, enough to power more than 2,000 homes on the island when the project becomes fully operation early next year.

Technology provider Energos, which is investing £4 million in the project, will begin to deliver the specialist equipment to site during late September and construction is scheduled for completion before the end of this year.

Instead of incinerating waste, gasification converts it into a gas using an advanced two-stage thermal treatment process. The resulting heat energy is used to produce steam, which is then used to generate electricity.

Alongside the gasification equipment, investment is being made in the waste processing and recycling equipment at the Isle of Wight Council's Resource Recovery Facility operated by Biffa subsidiary Island Waste Services, the Isle of Wight Council's integrated waste management contractor.

The new facility will extract recyclable material from waste delivered to the site and residual waste will be processed to provide fuel for the gasification plant.

The project is part of Defra's New Technology Demonstrator Programme, which promotes innovative ways of reducing biodegradable waste sent to landfill. Defra is providing £2.7m to meet 35 per cent of the £8m cost of developing and operating the facility during the first year.

The groundbreaking facility is expected to attract visitors from local authorities across the UK and Europe as the drive to develop greener waste processing technology gathers pace.

"This project will deliver significant environmental benefits to Isle of Wight residents. It is on course, on budget and on time," said Tony Grimshaw, Project Director at Energos, which is part of the UK-based ENER-G group.

"Local people may notice a temporary increase in heavy traffic as equipment produced at our Norwegian company is delivered. However, when this small scale, local facility is operational it will cut out the need to use heavy vehicles to transport floc fuel to the mainland".

Tony Grimshaw added: "Another benefit of this localised solution is that because the energy will be used on the Island, there will be little wastage during the transmission process."

The plant will generate electricity from 30,000 tonnes of fuel produced from 60,000 tonnes of waste processed through the Isle of Wight Council's Resource Recovery Facility.

"The additional fuel requirements of the new facility will mean that waste currently sent to landfill will be diverted for processing in the new facility" said Bruce Gilmore, General Manager of Island Waste Services.

Bruce Gilmore added "This will demonstrate the capability of the technology to divert post-recycling refuse from landfill, therefore extending the life of the landfill site and helping the Isle of Wight Council to meet its Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme targets."

There are currently six similar Energos plants operating in Norway and Germany and the technology has a ten year track record with over 280,000 hours of operating experience.