The first delivery of waste-derived fuel was recently made to the Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 (FM1) Facility in West Yorkshire, which was followed by the successful first firing of the plant. FM1 is owned by Multifuel Energy Limited (MEL), a joint venture between SSE and Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., and is next to our existing Ferrybridge ‘C’ coal fired power station.
FM1 will process around 570,000 tonnes of waste derived fuel, from various sources, each year to produce low carbon electricity, enough to power around 160,000 homes. The £300 million facility has taken three years to construct.
Shanks, a leading waste-to-product business, will deliver 200,000 tonnes of waste derived fuel to the facility each year, which will be turned into low carbon energy.
Rhys Stanwix, Director of Thermal Development at SSE said: “Shanks and MEL began working together very early on in the development process of FM1. Having Shanks on board helped MEL to secure some of the large local fuel contracts, which in turn helped to secure the £300 million investment needed to build FM1. The first fuel delivery to FM1 marked a huge milestone for this partnership, and enabled us to complete the subsequent successful first firing.”
“We would not have got to this important milestone without a lot of hard work from many people across our business and by our external partners. I would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment and efforts.”
Gary Aguinaga, Managing Director of Wheelabrator Technologies UK operations, said: “The delivery of the first fuel from Shanks is a major milestone for the FM1 project. This marks the beginning of a thorough period of commissioning, leading to the plant being fully commercially operational before the end of 2015.”
Peter Eglinton, Managing Director of Shanks’ UK Municipal Division, said:
“As a leading waste-to-product business that is focused on avoiding landfill, we are proud to deliver the first fuel to be turned into low carbon energy at FM1. By creating high quality fuels, not only are we able to make more from waste, but we are also helping to meet the renewable energy needs of our customers under long term agreements.”
FM1 has created over 500 construction jobs and involved many local and regional companies. As a result of the construction phase, the local economy is expected to have benefitted from around £10 million of additional business for local hotels, restaurants and other service providers. The FM1 operations team, comprising of 46 full time equivalent staff that are needed to bring the plant through commissioning and into full commercial operations have now started their roles on-site, following a successful recruitment period. The aim is to have the plant fully commercially operational before the end of 2015.
MEL has applied to build and operate a second Multifuel power station (known as FM2) at the Ferrybridge site. If planning permission is granted for FM2, MEL hopes that the benefits that the local area has experienced would be repeated.