The company plans to invest GBP40 million in the new facility, which would convert non-recyclable waste into green electricity for up to 10,000 homes, as well as heat for local industry.
Ener-G noted that 20 long term skilled jobs would be created at the center, which would be Energos’s international training centre and an advanced environmental technology showcase site.
The proposed scheme would use Energos’s proprietary gasification technology. This involves a finely controlled two-stage process that converts non-recyclable waste into gas by using the heat of partial combustion. The gas is then fully combusted to generate heat, which is used to produce steam and electricity.
The plant is expected to take two years to build and Knowsley would be the second advanced thermal conversion plant built in the UK, with Energos set to open the first in July 2008, on the Isle of Wight, a project which is backed by the UK government’s New Technology Demonstrator Program. This project has reportedly been judged as an outstanding achievement by the British Renewable Energy Association.
Nick Dawber, managing director for Energos, said: We are proposing a community sized solution for local waste that would otherwise fill up landfill sites and emit damaging greenhouse gases. We offer a proven and world class, low-emission gasification technology that can help the UK build a much needed sustainable waste infrastructure.
