Sembcorp shells out S$473.5m for waste energy plant in the UK

It will be operational in 2016.

Sembcorp Industries announced that it will be developing a new energy-from-waste facility in Teesside, the UK, which will be the Group’s first energy-from-waste facility outside Singapore. 

The new energy-from-waste facility will be capable of producing up to 49 megawatts of gross power or 190 tonnes per hour of steam, using municipal and commercial waste.

The facility will be located at Wilton International, a 770-hectare industrial site which Sembcorp owns, operates and manages in Teesside.
The new facility will be developed by a 40:40:20 joint venture between Sembcorp, SITA UK (part of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT) and ITOCHU Corporation.

The facility will utilise up to 450,000 tonnes per year of municipal waste, which would otherwise have gone to landfill, to produce sustainable power and steam. Through this facility, Sembcorp will be able to divert waste from landfill, convert waste into a fuel to produce energy, reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and lower carbon emissions.

The energy-from-waste facility will reduce carbon emissions by an estimated 130,000 tonnes per year, compared to landfilling an equivalent amount of waste.

The waste will be supplied by the Merseyside and Halton Waste Partnership under a 30-year contract, which the joint venture won through a competitive bidding process.

To be located at Sembcorp’s Wilton International site, the facility will provide a new income stream and enhance the competitiveness of our UK operations when it becomes operational.

Apart from the energy-from-waste facility, the joint venture will also be developing a waste transfer station in Knowsley, Merseyside, to transport the waste by rail from Merseyside to the energy-from-waste plant in Teesside.

Both facilities are expected to be operational in 2016, and will be developed under a build, own, operate and transfer arrangement with the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority for a period of 30 years.

The total investment for both the energy-from-waste facility and waste transfer station amounts to approximately £250 million (approximately S$473.5 million), which will be funded through a long-term non-recourse project finance loan, an equity bridge loan, shareholder loans and equity. Financial close of the project is expected in the second half of 2013 or early 2014.