Leading resource management company, Veolia UK Ltd, says that it has demonstrated the importance of Energy Recovery Facilities (ERF) to the UK's baseload infrastructure by generating more electricity for the UK power network compared to all the wind generation assets. Over a period of fourteen hours on July 22, 2021, the company's facilities actually delivered nearly 25 percent more energy than wind power, and at one point Veolia delivered 111 MWe, against the total wind generation of 58 MWe.
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The combined generating capacity of 180 MWe already takes the pressure off the stretched UK grid as a reliable and secure source of low carbon energy. As the first operator in the UK to achieve high efficiency, the R1 standard for all of its Energy Recovery Facilities (ERF), Veolia’s ten plants take around 2.3 million tonnes of non-recyclable waste and transform this into electricity for over 400 000 homes.
Each year these facilities reliably add to energy security by generating around 1.4TWh of electricity through the treatment of non-recyclable waste and have shown their key role in safely tackling COVID-related wastes by treating the 15 percent increase in orange bagged clinical and infectious materials.
Some of these facilities are also contributing to the need for heat decarbonization by producing heating for communities through district heating networks, using combined heat and power (CHP) technology. As an estimated 20 percent of the nation’s carbon emissions are generated by domestic heating, due to a low standard of energy efficiency, using this type of non-fossil fuel heating lowers carbon emissions and can help reduce cost, and fuel poverty, in vulnerable groups.
Access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy is key to supporting communities and businesses and is linked to fuel poverty and carbon emissions. To virtually eliminate wastes and produce secure energy in its place is a win-win situation, generating green electricity and heat, reducing landfills, and achieving greater sustainability. As more baseload generators such as nuclear, coal, and CCGTs retire, ERFs’ are set to play an increasingly important role in keeping the lights on during winter evenings and during days where wind generation is low. Future development will increase this importance and we are already advancing trials of the latest carbon capture technology, and taking another step towards a zero-carbon future, said Donald Macphail, Chief Operating Officer – Treatment at Veolia.
