New London plant to facilitate heating network

A new waste gasification plant in Greater London will need to facilitate a new district heating network if it is to receive final approval, despite having been given planning consent.

Planning permission has been granted for a 180,000 tonnes-per-year 19 MW capacity gasification plant at the London Sustainable Industries Park by Barking and Dagenham borough council.

Letsrecycle.com reports that the 19 MW plant will be developed and operated by Thames Gateway Waste to Energy Ltd – a company set up specifically to deliver the project by US gasification specialists Chinook Urban Mining.

However, the approval is subject to the company agreeing to a £290,000 contribution towards public transport and London ‘Green Grid’ initiatives; £10,000 towards Site of Importance for Nature Conservation Improvements; a commitment to install heating infrastructure for a district heating network; and commitments to use local labour.

Taking commercial and industrial waste the plant will produce energy while also supplying heat and power to other occupants of the London Sustainable Industries Park.

Of the 19MW of electricity it will produce each year, around 5MW will be used to power the plant itself. The remaining 14MW will be exported to the national grid – enough energy to power 32,000 homes each year.

Construction on the plant, which has an expected lifespan of 20-30 years, is expected to start this summer before coming online in 2015.

Source: COSPP