Cory Riverside Energy has revealed what it calls “ambitious plans” to build an integrated, low-carbon energy park at its site in Belvedere, South East London to complement its existing Riverside Energy Recovery Facility (ERF). It will comprise a range of technologies including waste energy recovery, anaerobic digestion, solar panels, and battery storage.
The new Riverside Energy Park would enable the company to convert even more of London’s residual “black bin” waste into green electricity, it states, and produce cheap heat for export to nearby homes and businesses. In addition, it would continue to convert the residual ash that is left over at the end of the process into construction materials useful for building London’s homes and roads.
Cory has advised the Government’s Planning Inspectorate, which handles applications for this type of project, of its proposals.
Meanwhile, Cory will develop the scheme and consult with the local community and other organisations about the proposals before formally submitting an application to the Secretary of State for development consent.
The company expects to hold public exhibitions during the summer of 2018 and, before then, will work with key public bodies and local stakeholders to identify the main environmental and planning considerations that will be addressed by the design of the Energy Park.
Construction is targeted to begin in 2021, and the Energy Park is expected to be fully operational by 2024. Cory has selected Hitachi Zosen Inova as its Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor, following its excellent delivery of the existing Riverside ERF.
Nicholas Pollard, Chief Executive of Cory Riverside Energy (pictured), said: “The new energy park represents a huge step forward when it comes to meeting London’s waste management and energy generation needs. Our current Riverside Energy Recovery Facility has been reliably operating at capacity and within all air pollution limits since day one, so expanding our energy generating capabilities in a more ambitious integrated Energy Park is the natural next step.
“London is facing a significant capacity gap in its ability to appropriately dispose of and treat all its waste. This new park is an important part of the solution.
“By employing a range of technologies which are proven at scale, we can expand our ability to generate clean, low carbon renewable energy for London and treat more of London’s waste within the city’s boundaries.”
Cory forecasts that the Riverside Energy Park would:
- Generate up to 96 megawatts (MW) of low carbon renewable electricity at peak times, which taken together with the permitted capacity of 72 MW from the existing Riverside ERF is the equivalent of powering c.300,000 homes across London (almost 10% of London’s 3.2m households)
- Divert a further 650,000 tonnes of residual waste away from landfill, which will save an additional 130,000 tonnes of CO2 each year
- Make use of Cory’s existing river-based infrastructure on the River Thames to further reduce road traffic. At present, Cory’s use of the Thames as a “Green Highway” currently removes around 100,000 truck journeys from London’s roads every year. The new park would allow for a further 80,000 truck journeys to be removed.
- Be capable of supplying up to 30MW of affordable heat energy to local housing
- Create a further 175,000 tonnes/year of construction materials from the EfW process for use in building the south-east’s homes and infrastructure, avoiding the need for industry to extract an equivalent tonnage of natural stone.
- Make a valuable contribution to local employment, with over 100 full-time jobs and apprenticeships set to be created at the energy park and on the river. The construction period is likely to require a workforce in excess of 6,000 people.