As a major employer in the Northwich area, we are committed to securing our long-term future - and controlling our energy costs by reducing our sites' reliance on fossil fuels will help us to do this. Investment in a new Sustainable Energy Plant at Lostock would result in Tata Chemicals Europe having one of the lowest carbon footprints for a manufacturer of its kind in Europe - a significant achievement in these climate-conscious times.
The proposed Sustainable Energy Plant will have a maximum electrical capacity of 60 MW of electricity (60Mwe, gross) and typically produce 100 tonnes of steam per hour. This will provide approximately one third of our heat energy requirement and use significantly less fossil fuel (gas).
This development is in line with our commitment to help improve our local environment and meets UK government and European best practice to recover energy from non-recyclable material used in combined heat and power schemes.
According to the Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants, there are currently 380 such waste-to-energy plants across Europe.
The proposals are to build an energy generating plant, not a waste incinerator. The two types of plant have different priorities - our Sustainable Energy Plant is designed to produce electricity and steam, albeit from a process that uses pre-treated fuel derived from waste, whereas a waste incinerator is more often than not, designed to burn waste first and foremost, usually as part of a contract with a waste disposal authority, and only as a by-product might it have energy generating capacity. We have no interest in burning waste simply to get rid of it.
The new plant will be developed and operated in partnership with energy company E.ON. It will use a non-hazardous, solid fuel made from hard-to-recycle waste materials that have had all their recyclables taken out, and potentially some E.ONbiomass, which might otherwise go to landfill.
Tata Chemicals Europe will not be involved in processing the waste material for the fuel, and no roadside refuse collection vehicles would deliver to the plant.