In the UK, Low Carbon Ltd and Waste Energy Power Partners (WEPP) have closed on the sale of their joint venture Doveryard Ltd to funds managed by Octopus Renewables, part of Octopus Energy Ltd, a specialist energy investor. The deal will see the construction of a 17 MWe energy recovery facility (ERF) on the Oldhall Industrial Estate in Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland.
The planned and permitted Oldhall ERF facility has been in development by Doveryard for the last three years and will export 17 MW of low carbon electricity to the grid and have the ability to provide high-quality heat and steam to nearby businesses, most notably the forthcoming i3 Business Park development.
As one of the UK’s leading specialist investors in energy generation, we are thrilled to be able to acquire this landmark project for our investors. The project will play a crucial role in supporting Scotland’s target to ban landfills by 2025, enabling the waste to be used as a fuel source instead, and demonstrating the potential of technologies such as Energy Recovery in the UK’s diversified energy mix. It has been a pleasure working alongside Low Carbon, WEPP, and the other partners on this deal and we look forward to progressing the project into construction and operation, said Peter Dias, Investment Director, Octopus Renewables.
This facility will be the first large-scale, subsidy-free energy recovery facility in western Scotland, bringing with it the best available technology (BAT), an EPC contractor with over 40-year experience, and a leading renewables investor.
We are delighted to have reached this milestone with our development partner, WEPP, and to have completed our first transaction with Octopus Renewables. This project is an excellent example of how to develop and structure greenfield projects from scratch in new markets with new partners. We are grateful to continue to play our part in a low carbon energy future for Scotland and look forward to seeing this project enter its next stage of development and the benefits it will bring to the local community, said Dominic Noel Johnson, Investment Director at Low Carbon.
STC Power S.r.l will fulfill the role of EPC Contractor with Standardkessel Baumgarte GmbH (SBG) providing the main “chute to stack” technology solution.
The project will also benefit from long-term feedstock agreements signed with both Enva and Geminor to supply the plant with the bulk of the 185 600 tonnes required per annum.
What makes this project unique is the real impact it will have in the local area – its capacity to power thousands of homes, divert waste that would otherwise be exported or sent to landfills, and the economic benefits on local employment and business from this significant investment. We hope that this will provide a blueprint for similar projects in the future across the UK, as it is only by bringing together the right partners to work together and share expertise that it has been possible for us to get this development off the ground, Mark Denham, CEO of WEPP.
The project and land agreements were advised on by Ashurst LLP and TLT LLP respectively, and all technical aspects of the project transaction were supported by Fichtner Consulting Engineers. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed.
