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A £250million energy park which turns waste into reuseable products or
energy leaving nothing in landfill is planned for Peterborough. The
park earmarked for land behind Peterborough Power Station in Fengate
aims to be an environmental answer to dumping waste in landfill
sites.
It will create 300 jobs during its
two year construction and a further 105 when it starts operation,
which could be as soon as 2010.
Chris Williams, managing director of
Peterborough Renewable Energy Ltd which will build and run the park,
said: "This energypark really is the answer to Peterborough’s
problems – both environmentally and it terms of power production. It
adds to the green credentials of the city while reducing pollution
and landfill, boosting recycling and creating electricity.”
Creates power for 60,000 homes
Using market leading technology, the
plant will turn waste into reuseable materials including glass,
aggregates, acids and metals as well as creating enough electricity
to power 60,000 homes a year. The 25-acre energypark would comply
with strict Environment Agency guidelines which mean sound, smell,
and emissions are negligible and there is no adverse effect on the
surrounding environment and wildlife. The plans were unveiled to the
public on 4 October and Peterborough
Renewable Energy Ltd has a range of public consultation planned
including exhibitions in the city centre, public meetings and
liaison with neighbours and key stakeholders in the city
Mr Williams
continued: "We have already held one-to-one or round table
discussions with interested parties including community leaders,
environmental groups, MPs and Flag Fen to keep them updated of our
intentions. We're eager to hear what the public has to say and hope
we can answer any queries they may have."
The environmental answer to waste
dumping
The firm originally submitted plans
in 2005 but after listening to local concerns has revised the
application and dramatically cut the size of the scheme to just half
the waste capacity and a third of the energy production. It also no
longer uses Global Olivine technology.
The energypark off Storey's Bar Road
will consist of a research and development centre and two
three-story (17m) main buildings each housing a waste receiving
hall, combustion chamber and plasma treatment chamber. It will take
up to 650,000 tonnes of waste per year from the county and an area
in a 20-mile radius of Peterborough including Cambridge, Wisbech and
Stamford.
The waste enters the park where it
is immediately sorted into recyclables (plastic, glass, metals) and
leftovers. The recyclables are recycled while the biomass residues
are gasified, creating electricity. Residue from this process goes
into the plasma chamber at temperatures at up to 6000C which reduces
them to their original atoms, allowing them to be recombined and
recycled as metal, glass and acid.
Some items separated in the
recycling facility, like glass, metals or lightbulbs, are also put
through the plasma to create new products, increasing the amount of
recycling within the city. The site also benefits farmers by
providing a use for biomass crops (either agricultural waste or
specially grown) which are turned into energy, powering the plant
and feeding the National Grid - removing the reliance on fossil
fuels. All the products which come out of the plant are then sold
on.
For example, metals go to steel
manufacturers, aggregate goes to construction firms for hardcore,
acid goes to chemical users like the steel industry or for swimming
pools, while glass goes to water companies for filtration or is made
into lightweight tiles. Crystal-type glass is also made on site. The
facility uses cutting-edge technology which will put Peterborough at
the forefront of environmental waste management, building on its
Environment Capital aspirations.
While the combustion technology is
already used in the UK, it will be the first time this PEM plasma
unit is used in the country although it is currently in use in
Japan, the United States, and Taiwan. Peterborough Renewable Energy
Ltd has a similar plant under consideration in Italy.
Right for the people of
Peterborough
The energypark, which will only
receive waste between 7am and 7pm, does draw the line at certain
wastes and will not take radioactive and explosive substances, or
hazardous materials such as hydroflourocarbons used in the chemical
industry. Its doors will be open from 7am to 7pm, hosting 140
lorries a day – increasing the traffic flow in the area by just one
per cent at peak times.
A permit to operate the park has
been given approval by the Environment Agency, while the land,
sandwiched between Peterborough Power Station and a site hoping for
planning permission for three 90metre wind turbines, has already
been earmarked by Peterborough City Council for a waste recycling
plant.
Although the application will be
discussed by councillors and will be recommended for approval or
refusal, the decision lies with the Department for Business,
Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (previously the DTi) Mr Williams
said: "We've been in discussions about building the park for seven
years. It's important to us that we get it right and the people of
Peterborough are happy with our plans so we keep taking on board
residents' points of view and fine-tuning our application. We hope
this time we've got it spot-on."
October 2007 -
Peterborough UK Community Website
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