SSE receives consent for Ferrybridge Multi-fuel Project

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SSE Generation Ltd, the wholly owned generation business of SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) has received consent from the Department of Energy and Climate Change to develop an up to 108MW multi-fuel project within its existing Ferrybridge coal power station site.

The facility will use a range of sustainable fuel sources, including biomass, waste-derived fuels and waste wood, to generate electricity and heat. SSE’s joint venture with Shanks Plc (3SE) is intended to provide processed waste-derived fuels for use at the facility from nearby Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster councils.

The planning consent is the culmination of significant consultation and engagement with local residents, community organisations, elected representatives and government agencies.

Enabling works are due to begin in early 2012 with the main construction period commencing in October 2012 and a planned project completion date of early 2015.

The proposal for a multi-fuel plant is not designed to replace the 1,000 megawatts of existing coal capacity closing in 2015 (due to the European Large Combustion Plant Directive – LCPD) and SSE has not yet made a decision on the future main use of Ferrybridge Power Station. At present SSE is also currently constructing a trial carbon capture facility at Ferrybridge Power Station, in collaboration with Doosan Power Systems and Vattenfall.

SSE’s Director of Thermal Development, Rhys Stanwix, said: “This multi-fuel CHP plant will be an innovative addition to our generating portfolio and will make an important contribution to ensuring secure energy supplies.”

“It will also create approximately 100 full time jobs throughout its operation and its construction will create 300 jobs on site over the next 3 years. These jobs, along with the additional considerable opportunities for local services and the local community enhancement work we are doing as part of the development will make a substantial contribution to the local area.”

Further information, including a detailed Question and Answer document can be found at www.SSE.com/ferrybridge.

Public comments on waste facility published

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Feedback from local people about the proposed new waste facility on Bolton Road, Manvers has been published online.

3SE – a joint venture between Shanks Waste Solutions and Scottish & Southern Energy – held three public exhibitions in July at which local residents could view and comment on the proposals.

All of the feedback received has now been published at www.bdronline.co.uk and is available to all to access. It has also been sent to everyone that left written feedback.

Shanks is developing plans to construct a Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant and Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant on the site. Once operational, it would recycle black bag waste from Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham leaving just 1.5% going to landfill.

All three councils will now have access to the responses, while Shanks will continue to review the feedback and take it into account before a final planning application is submitted.

Cllr Richard Russell, Cabinet member for Waste Management at Rotherham Borough Council, said:

“Holding a comprehensive consultation programme is a key part of this project for us and our colleagues at Barnsley and Doncaster. Through these events, our mailings to local residents and businesses, and the website, we wanted to make sure that everyone with an interest in the proposals was aware of what is being proposed and had a chance to consider the scheme and give us their input.”

Stephen Ray, Bid Director for the project at Shanks, said:

“I am very grateful to everyone who has taken the trouble to give us their feedback, which gives us a valuable local perspective. Traffic was clearly the key issue for those who had concerns. We will be discussing this, along with other issues such as flood risk, with the three local authorities and with our project team to make sure we find the right solutions.

“There were also a number of welcome suggestions and I was also pleased that we were able to address concerns around noise, dust and smells.

“Our consultation does not stop here. Since the exhibitions we have held further meetings with local groups and parish councils and will be continuing our dialogue with the community up to submission of our planning application and, if we are given planning approval, through and beyond the construction process.”

The three public exhibitions followed a newsletter containing details of the exhibitions, which was mailed to 17,600 local households and 900 local business addresses.

Many residents had previously requested that they be kept up to date by newsletter as they found this the most convenient way of being kept informed.

The public exhibitions were held on the 15th, 16th and 23rd of July at locations in Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster. 129 people attended and 34 left written feedback.

Waste treatment proposals go on public display

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Public consultation is to begin in mid-July on proposals for a new waste recycling centre on land at Bolton Road between Bolton-upon-Dearne and Manvers. The proposals follow the selection by BDR Waste Partnership of Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham councils of 3SE – a partnership between Shanks Group PLC and Scottish & Southern Energy – as its preferred partner.

Recycling waste
The facility, to be developed on a former colliery site owned by Rotherham Borough Council, will consist of two plants to treat up to 265,000 tonnes per year of leftover household and a small amount of commercial waste from the three councils.

The main building, called a Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant, will dry the waste and recover and process other materials that can be re-used, such as metals, glass, plastics, compost, stone and grit instead of sending them to landfill or burning them in an Energy from Waste (EfW) plant. The dried end-product will then be used to generate electricity in a multi-fuel plant at Ferrybridge. The smaller Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant will compost residues from the MBT plant, producing renewable energy and a soil nutrient.

All of the operations will take place indoors, with both plants operating under negative pressure. Air will be sucked in to be used in the drying and treatment process. All air released into the atmosphere will pass through bio-filters, which will stop smells or dust leaving the plant. Continue reading →