Green Hills Energy-from-Waste Facility
Covanta Energy has recently made a landmark announcement detailing its plans to build an Energy-from-Waste (EfW) plant in Scotland. The plant will be one of a small number likely to be built on this scale in Scotland and will fulfil an essential role in ensuring effective resource management, providing a means of energy recovery from waste which cannot be sensibly recycled.
The Green Hills Energy-from-Waste (EfW) Facility is located in Drumshangie, North Lanarkshire. It is being designed as a Combined Heat Power (CHP) facility and will produce approximately 24 MW of electricity together with an additional 23 MW of thermal heat, the majority of which will be classified as renewable.
Green Hills Key Facts:
Location: Drumshangie, North Lanarkshire (15 miles from Glasgow city centre).
Waste catchment area: Central Scotland.
Technologies: Moving grate Energy-from-Waste plant, with Combined Heat and Power.
Renewable energy provision: 24 MW electricity; plus up to additional 23 MW thermal heat.
Construction: Anticipated to commence in 2013.
Anticipated completion in 2015.
Employment: 400 construction jobs and 60 permanent jobs.
A key benefit of the new facility is that it has been designed to provide an additional 23 MW of renewable thermal energy through its state of the art CHP plant. This will result in a combined output that meets the energy needs of approximately 80,000 homes.
By implementing CHP technology this new facility guarantees the very best efficiencieswhile optimising the treatment of post recycled waste in an environmentally sustainable manner. As a result it meets the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s efficiency guidelines.
A sustainable waste management solution for Scotland
Construction of Covanta’s Green Hills Facility will play a major part in Scotland’s Zero Waste Plan by providing an effective means of dealing with post-recycled waste and contributing to meeting renewable energy targets. The Plan highlights that Scotland produced nearly 20 million tonnes of waste in 2008, with around six million tonnes of this being sent straight to Scottish landfill. The Green Hills Facility will assist by diverting waste away from landfill, using the waste effectively to create clean, green energy.
Much of the waste needed to fuel the facility will come from the Central Belt of Scotland. As a result of its strategic location, waste will not need to be transported long distances in order for it to be managed. The waste will be a combination of municipal solid waste (household waste that cannot be effectively recycled) along with commercial and industrial waste.
Realising the CHP potential
A key advantage of the new EfW plant is that it has the capacity to operate as CHP. Alongside the 24 MW of renewable electricity for export to the National Grid, the facility has also been designed to provide a further 23 MW of renewable thermal energy for use in district heating or chilling and to support co-located industrial and business processes.
Covanta is in the process of identifying potential customers for the heat/chilling load, including the data centre that received planning permission on an adjacent site in May 2010. It is expected that the CHP output will act as a magnet for further development and help create long term job opportunities in the community.