A combined heat & power plant in Plymouth - a benchmark for the UK
The contract we have been awarded to finance, plan, build and operate an energy from waste plant in south-west England means that we are now also present in the British market. Construction work began in August 2012 and operations commenced in spring 2015.
Devonport Royal Dockyard in Plymouth is Europe’s oldest and largest naval base. It thus offers optimal conditions for building a high-efficiency cogeneration plant. As the largest energy consumer in the region, the Royal Navy stands to save 20 percent of its energy costs in future by directly procuring electricity and heating energy from the plant. Not only that, local councils will benefit from lower waste charges, thus significantly reducing the burden on taxpayers. The plant has an annual incineration capacity of 245,000 tonnes and will achieve an energy efficiency rate of up to 49 % – that is more than twice as efficient as the current norm at British plants.
Facts and figures at a glance
| Approval | 2012 |
| Launch of operations | 2015 |
| Waste types | Municipal sold waste and industrial and commercial waste |
| Number of boilers | 1 |
| Firing method | Moving grate |
| Waste bunker | More than 10 days intake volume |
| Annual throughput | 245,000 Mg/a |
| Reported calorific value | 9,500 kJ/kg |
| Live steam production | approx. 800,000 Mg/a at 60 bar, 420 °C |
| Electricity production | 190,000 MWh/a |
| Residual materials | IBA, approx. 60,000 Mg/a Filter ash, ca. 8,500 Mg/a |
| Personnel | 33 employees |
