Wheelabrator Technologies has announced that it has reached financial close on a new 550 000 tonnes per annum energy-from-waste (EfW) facility at Kemsley in Kent, UK. Construction expected to come underway in August 2016.
US-headed Wheelabrator Technologies has announced that it has reached financial close on a new 550 000 tonnes per annum energy-from-waste (EfW) facility at Kemsley in Kent, UK. Wheelabrator is the second largest EfW business in the US with 16 EfW facilities across the US and UK that have an annual waste processing capacity of over 6.8 million tonnes and over 850 MWe installed power capacity.
– To achieve financial close is a significant milestone and I’m very proud of our team for making this possible, and excited to welcome a second facility in the UK to our fleet, saidRobert Boucher, President and CEO of Wheelabrator in a statement.
Wheelabrator Kemsley is a combined heat and power (CHP) facility that will generate 43 MW of electricity to the grid and steam to the adjacent Kemsley Paper Mill, owned and operated by DS Smith.
Progress to reach financial close on this £340 million (≈ EUR 399 million) project follows the award of an Environmental Permit by the Environment Agency in 2011 and planning permission by Kent County Council in March 2012. In February 2015, Wheelabrator was successfully awarded a 15-year Contract for Difference (CfD) with the UK government for approximately 50 percent of the facility’s power output.
Fuel for the Wheelabrator Kemsley facility will come from across Kent and South East England, with 75 percent of the fuel supply hedged at fixed prices for terms ranging from 5 to 15 years with a number of top tier waste management companies.
According to a statement Wheelabrator, site preparation work is underway and full construction of the facility is set to start in August 2016 with plant operations expected to begin in 2019.
– We remain focused on continuing to develop our pipeline for growth in the UK and building long-lasting relationships, including the one we have with DS Smith, said Wheelabrator UK Managing Director Paul Green.
