Area Council hears of Green Energy Park plans as Chamber Members back Scunthorpe project

North Lincolnshire Area Council Chair Paul Tofton thanks Colin Hammond for his informative presentation.

THE Chamber’s Northern Lincolnshire Area Council meeting in June welcomed Colin Hammond from Solar 21 to talk to members about the Green Energy Park being planned for Scunthorpe.

Colin told Chamber Members that the 525 acre site had now received its DCO consent in March and explained how the £1.4-billion project will recover energy from waste and use as many of the by-products as possible

The core energy Recovery Facility will be able to generate up to 95 megawatts of electricity from 380 megawatts of thermal energy. To maximise efficiency there will also be 10 megawatts of hydrogen storage, 30 megawatts of battery storage, 120 tonnes of steam storage and an ash treatment facility which will see the ash being used to make concrete blocks.

The site may link in to the Humber Carbon Capture and Storage pipeline and hydrogen projects.

Once fully up and running, the scheme will see enough low carbon energy being generated to power more than 221,000 homes every year, while Solar 21 is also planning hydrogen, heat and battery storage and a hydrogen bus pilot scheme, potentially in Scunthorpe. The hydrogen produced could be used as a clean fuel for vehicles or to decarbonise the gas network.

The Northern Lincolnshire Green Energy Park will be one of the first energy recovery facilities in the UK to use carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology, now considered an essential part of the UK’s climate change strategy. Some of the carbon dioxide will be captured, stored and utilised on site in the manufacture of concrete blocks using fly ash from the energy recovery process, and the company is looking at linking in to the carbon capture pipeline planned for the Humber in the longer term.

The energy recovery facility will use up to 760,000 tonnes of waste that might otherwise go to landfill or be exported and generate enough energy to meet the needs of up to 221,000 homes.

The plans for the plant include a plastic recycling facility which will break down the polymers in plastics so that they can be reformed and used again. The facility is expected to divert 20,000 tonnes of plastic from landfill or export each year.

During construction, up to 600 people will be employed on the site, and once completed the energy park will create more than 250 permanent jobs.

Colin told the meeting that batteries would be used to store excess electricity and there would also be a visitor centre to show the public how everything worked and integrated.

The Chair of the Area Council, Paul Tofton, thanked Colin for his presentation as members gave the project the Chamber’s backing, noting the jobs that will be created will be an asset for the region and boost the Humber’s zero carbon ambitions.