Royal Opens the New Waste to Energy Facility at Billingham, Teesside
His Royal Highness, The Duke of Kent KG officially opened on October 8th 2014 Hitachi Zosen Inova’s forth Waste to Energy facility in execution in the United Kingdom. The new state-of-the-art facility has been developed by SITA UK, a subsidiary of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, on behalf of the South Tyne and Wear Waste Management Partnership, which comprises Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland councils.
Operation of the new Waste to Energy plant will allow the three councils to significantly reduce their reliance on landfill, transfer their residual waste to Teesside and provide residents with a more sustainable waste management service by using waste to produce sufficient electricity to power around 30,000 homes. Development of this facility follows the award of a 25-year waste management contract in 2011 to SITA Consortium by the South Tyne and Wear Waste Management Partnership. The facility is conceived to treat 256’000 tonnes of waste every year that is not either recycled or composted, there of 190,000 tonnes from the North-East councils.
The new two line plant is Hitachi Zosen Inova’s (HZI) second plant built at SITA’s Tees Valley site. The first facility was a single line plant put into operation in 2009 to treat residual waste from Northumberland. Construction of the new facility began in May 2011 and was completed in April 2014. The new plant underpins high reliability and cutting-edge technology performance achieved by proven Waste to Energy solutions. Waste to Energy is the process of recovering energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from complete combustion of residual waste. Stateof- the-art energy technology complies with the strict European requirements for efficiency (R1) and flue gas emissions. The plant and achieves highest plant availabilities of more than 91.5%.
Official opening with Royal attendance
The official opening was honoured by the visit of his Royal Highness, The Duke of Kent KG, who had the pleasure to take an informative tour through the new plant and formally open it. Franz-Josef Mengede, CEO of Hitachi Zosen Inova, said: ”The commitment of UK’s decision makers to implement clear economic drivers for diversion of waste from landfill is exemplary. HZI is delighted to play an important role in the current transformation process by having delivered its fourth of eight reference facilities in the UK. ”
Councillor Peter Mole MBE, chair of the South Tyne and Wear Waste Management Partnership’s Joint Executive Committee, said: “These new developments are the realization of our very ambitious plans to significantly reduce our reliance on landfill and provide our residents with a greener waste management service. Thanks to these new facilities, we are proud to be able to say that we now divert over 95% of our waste away from landfill.” David Palmer-Jones, Chief Executive Officer for SITA UK, said: “On behalf of SITA UK and the South Tyne & Wear Waste Management Partnership, I am delighted and honored to welcome His Royal Highness to formally open our new Waste to Energy facility.”
