Viridor and Babcock & Wilcox Volund (BW Volund) hosted a celebration event on Wednesday 6th August to recognise the installation of the new DynaGrate at the Peterborough Energy Recovery Facility (ERF).
The event was attended by members of Viridor, Interserve, BW Volund, Fichtner and members of Peterborough City Council. In addition, a wide ranging group of industry and local media were present to record the occasion.
Opening the event, Stuart Sim, Viridor’s director of Energy Recovery Facility, welcomed the guests. Highlighting the strong partnerships between everyone that has worked together to bring the construction to this phase, Stuart thanked everyone for their dedication to health and safety on the site. He added “Citizens of Peterborough will have seen things happening on this site for about a year now, but we have been active on this for years with procurement, planning and design – it is not just one year of activity.
“By building a plant like this it means that landfill in this area will generally be a thing of the past, and by displacing landfill there is a significant reduction in greenhouse gases. We will be generating just over seven megawatts – 15% of the needs of homes in Peterborough. This shows a very significant contribution during the current climate of fears about energy security”.
Jan Kristoffersen, BW Volund’s director of project management, followed by introducing the audience to the DynaGrate product, from Denmark. With a development history stretching back to the 1960s, Jan explained how advances in technology have allowed them to deliver a dynamic movement of combustion which is being utilised not only in Peterborough ERF but also other projects around Europe.
Mr Kristoffersen, said: “Today’s DynaGrate can process a wide range of waste compositions without breaking down or polluting – thereby being ideal for a good, stable and sustainable electricity production to a city such as Peterborough.”
Guests were then treated to a rare chance to see inside the Peterborough ERF whilst its inner workings were still exposed. Escorted throughout the site, groups were taken to view the DynaGrate up close before it becomes enclosed by the boiler and other equipment in the coming days.
Construction work for Peterborough ERF started last July. On completion it will be one of the most efficient plants of its kind in the UK.
Over the last 12 months, a lot of progress has happened on site. We remain on schedule and to one of the highest safety standards. The site has been recognised as outstanding for the safety, communication with the local community and presentation of the site by the Considerate Constructors Scheme.
Around £3.15m has been contributed to the local economy. Currently there are around 85 people working on site – around 23% of those employed on site are from Peterborough and surrounding area – and this is set to increase to over 200 as we progress with the plant.
Once operational late in 2015, the plant will produce 7.25MW of electricity – equivalent to that required by around 15% of homes in Peterborough. Around 95% of the waste delivered to the plant will be diverted from landfill – with the environmental and economic benefits associated for the council and therefore local people.
