Steam turbine technology produced by German industrial giant MAN will be delivered to firms constructing a large waste-to-energy plant on the banks of the River Thames next week.
The Riverside Resource Recovery Facility, which is being constructed at Bexley in Kent, will be capable of processing 585,000 tonnes of domestic waste a year and generating 72MW of electricity – enough to supply approximately 66,000 homes. The project, which is scheduled to come online in 2011, is being overseen by British waste management company Cory Environmental.
MAN’s steam turbine technology, which has been manufactured at its plant in Oberhausen, Germany, is due to be shipped out to Bexley on Monday. The waste-to-energy plant will burn tonnes of domestic waste to create steam. The superheated steam will drive the MAN turbine to produce electricity, which can then be sold to the grid.
Ash produced during the combustion of the waste will be collected and recycled as construction material. Waste will be transported along the river by barges to the plant, which will have three streams of waste lines, taking around 100,000 heavy trucks off the road, according to Holger Kube, head of sales for MAN steam turbines in Germany.
The power output of the Riverside Resource Recovery Facility is higher than at some other UK projects in the 10-40MW range that MAN is also working on, because greater volumes of waste can be transported to it thanks to its proximity to the river.
MAN’s steam turbine is meant to be able to run for six years continuously before any shutdown is required. Maintenance contracts between MAN and Cory Environmental are to be drawn up soon.
Under the terms of European legislation, the UK is meant to be steadily decreasing the amount of municipal waste that gets sent to landfill. Under the targets, by 2020, just 35% of household waste should go into landfill. London, where there is a declining level of landfill capacity, is aiming for a rate of zero waste to landfill by 2031. Councils could be fined £150 per tonne of landfill if they do not meet targets for landfill diversion.
Total construction costs of the Riverside Recovery Facility are £350 million.
© PE Publishing, 05 February 2010
