Engineering news
Work is set to begin on a 25MW renewable energy plant in Hull, which will generate renewable electricity from domestic and commercial refuse-derived fuel using fluidised bed gasification.
The project developer, engineering firm Spencer Group, announced it had sealed a financial package and construction contract to enable the scheme to be delivered. Construction of the £200m Energy Works scheme in Hull will now begin in January 2016, and is expected to be operational by January 2018.
The plant will treat approximately 240,000 tonnes a year of refined materials to produce a synthesis gas which is then burned to raise steam in a boiler to power a steam turbine generator and produce renewable electricity. It is expected to be the largest facility of its type in the UK.
Charlie Spencer, chairman of Energy Works, said the scheme was a “pioneering development”. He added: “A development of this scale and complexity naturally poses many challenges and all those involved are to be congratulated for their commitment and perseverance in taking the project through to this point.”
The development will now be funded by three new equity partners in Energy Works – Bioenergy Infrastructure Group (BIG), an independent power producer established to invest in the construction of new biomass and energy from waste plants in the UK; Noy Fund, an investment group based in Israel focused on major infrastructure and energy projects; and John Hancock, through its affiliate Hancock Natural Resource Group, a long-established timber, agriculture, and renewable energy investment management company. Spencer will remain a shareholder in the business and will also carry out the civil works as well as managing the construction phase and subsequent management of the operations of the completed plant on behalf of the investors.
Energy Works is the first advanced gasification power plant supported by the government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) arrangements, which have been put in place to stimulate investment in green energy developments to achieve targets for carbon reduction.
The CfD allocation ensures a guaranteed price for the renewable energy produced by Energy Works and exported into the National Grid, up to 2033.
Neil Bennett, director for M+W Group’s Global Energy Business Unit, said: “Energy Works will be the UK’s first major renewable energy project using Advanced Conversion Technology to reach financial close within the new CFD framework. Meeting the requirements of this subsidy regime was extremely challenging and I am therefore delighted that our solution is competitive, effective and bankable. We now look forward to delivering one of the UK’s most exciting and landmark renewable energy facilities.”
Construction will begin in the coming weeks.