Covanta and Green Investment Group (GIG) have reached financial close for the 60MW Rookery South Energy Recovery Facility in Bedfordshire, England.
Image: Covanta and GIG to build waste-to-energy plant in UK. Photo: Courtesy of Green Investment Group.
Covanta and GIG noted that the construction of the facility will now begin. The two companies will each own 40% in the new waste-to-energy facility and the remaining 20% will be owned by primary waste supplier Veolia ES (UK).
The Rookery facility is expected to offer 545,000 tonnes of annual treatment capacity for non-recyclable waste. This will enable the country in achieving national self-sufficiency in managing waste and compliance with landfill diversion targets.
Veolia will deliver a majority of the facility’s waste supply under a long-term contract and the balance of the waste will be sourced from commercial, industrial and municipal counterparties.
The facility will be able to generate more than 60MW of electricity which will be sold to the grid on merchant basis. The produced electricity will be sufficient to power over 112,500 UK homes.
GIG Europe head Ed Northam said: “GIG and Covanta have an ambition to deliver a joint portfolio of world class waste management infrastructure that will reduce landfill, lower emissions, and transform two million tonnes of residual waste a year into heat and power for communities and industry across the UK. I’m delighted that we get one step closer to realising that ambition today.
“GIG’s mission is to accelerate the transition to a greener global economy, and I believe Rookery can play an important role in helping the UK meet its goal of maximising the value of our resources to create a cleaner, greener, healthier planet.”
Under a turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, the waste-to-energy facility will be built by Hitachi Zosen Inova. The facility is expected to take nearly 36 months to complete. During the construction phase, more than 300 jobs will be creating.
During the construction phase, Covanta will offer technical oversight and will provide operations and maintenance services when the project commences operations in 2022.
Covanta CEO and president Stephen J. Jones said: “The Rookery project brings into full view the capabilities of our partnership with GIG and our commitment to the UK market, and we look forward to investing in the local community and serving the region with much-needed sustainable waste treatment.
“Rookery also marks the first project in the UK where we will assume an operating role and we are thrilled to contribute this core expertise to the project.”