North West

Second phase of £400 million CHP plant underway

The multi-mullion pound second phase of a new £400 million energy from waste combined heat and power plant – which will be one of the largest in the UK – is under construction in Runcorn, Cheshire, at the largest UK site of INEOS Chlor – a leading manufacturer of chlorine and PVC.

The project is being carried out by Keppel Integrated Engineering (KIE), who through Keppel Seghers, won the engineering, procurement and construction contract  known as Runcorn II, and awarded by Viridor EFW (Runcorn) Limited, a special purpose vehicle owned by Viridor Waste Management Limited.

The scheme is part of an earlier project, currently executed by Keppel Segher, named Runcorn I, or the Greater Manchester EFW Project.

Mr Michael Chia, Deputy Chairman and CEO of KIE, said, “We are very happy to deepen our partnership with Viridor through the construction of Runcorn II as it affirms the strength and reliability of Keppel Seghers’ waste management technology and EPC capabilities. As we are already executing Runcorn I, we will be able to tap into existing resources and synergise efforts to deliver value through effective solutions for our clients.”

Runcorn II, which is expected to be completed by 2014 or 2015, will have the capacity to treat an additional 375,000 tonnes of solid recovered fuel per year derived from household waste. Keppel Seghers are providing proprietary EFW technology to Runcorn II and building it.

The combined Runcorn I and II plant will be one of the largest waste and renewable energy projects in the UK upon completion, with a total capacity to treat 750,000 tonnes of waste per year. Running at full capacity, the plant will generate 70 MW of electricity and 51 MW of heat. Viridor will supply the waste through a waste supply agreement with the SPV.

Mr Colin Drummond, Chief Executive of Viridor, said, “The combined Runcorn plant will be one of the largest and most efficient in Europe…Construction of Phase II will be co-ordinated with ongoing work on Phase I which permits significant cost savings. It will enable Phase II to come on stream by 2014/2015 by which time large scale energy from waste facilities will be cost competitive against landfill with landfill tax by then being £80 per tonne.”

The manufacturing processes operated at INEOS Chlor’s Runcorn site are highly energy intensive, consuming the same amount of electricity as a city the size of Liverpool. It is therefore vital to the long term future of the business to utilise ways of producing energy that are not dependent on conventional fossil fuels, which are increasingly expensive and limited in supply.

When fully operational, the new Energy from Waste CHP plant will produce around 20% of the company’s total energy needs from renewable sources.

Runcorn I, which is owned by Viridor, John Laing plc and INEOS Chlor, broke ground on 26 August 2010.

Obor Constructions

 Obor Constructions role on the waste to energy facility in Runcorn was the construction of a number of highly complex concrete frame structures, the main structures involved were the waste bunker, boiler house, tipping hall, turbine building and cooling towers along with a number of smaller structures, each structure brought about its own unique challenges and all were done with a high level of concrete finish achieved.

The project was awarded in two phases with the second phase having recently been secured by Obor with work to run till next May 2012, the overall scope within the two phases will result in excess of 40,000m3 of in-situ concrete and 5,000tonne of reinforcement with a combined contract value of in excess of £10 million.

This project has been one of Obor Constructions stand out projects since commencing trading in 1997 and gives us a great since of satisfaction to have been involved in.

We are very appreciative of the experience gained and the relationships formed having worked with both John Sisk & Son and Keppel Seghers here in Runcorn and would hope that future work will develop based on these relationships.

At present Obor Construction are looking to secure future work for 2012 and we would welcome any approaches we receive, our company will consider any size contract with our emphasis been on trying to establish ourselves with new clients, we work across all sectors and all locations across the UK.

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