The company which operates a coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire has tabled plans for a greener £330 million replacement.
Uniper 海角视频, which owns and runs the Ratcliffe-on-Soar station, near East Midlands Airport, has submitted plans to Rushcliffe Borough Council to build a more environmentally-friendly waste incinerator at the 273-hectare site.
The coal-fired power station first opened in 1968. However, the Government is hoping to close all such stations by September, 2025 – and the planning application states that the station is “likely” to be demolished after this date.
Known as the East Midlands Energy Re-generation (EMERGE) Centre, the new incinerator would work in a similar way to other waste incinerators around the country but on a significantly larger scale.
It would generate electricity by way of steam turbines, driven through the controlled burning of residual waste. It would still release carbon emissions – but they would be significantly less when compared to coal.
It would burn non-hazardous commercial waste, as well as the ordinary household waste collected by local councils, helping to reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill or exported overseas.
The plans state that the EMERGE Centre would have a gross electricity generating capacity of almost 50 megawatts and a throughput of more than 470,000 tonnes of rubbish a year.
After subtracting the power used to run the facility itself, it would generate enough power to meet the average annual domestic electricity needs of about 90,000 homes.
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The development would be located within a main building, measuring almost 50 metres high and would employ 45 staff.
In planning documents submitted to the borough council by AXIS, on behalf of Uniper 海角视频, it said: “The vision for the power station is to create an employment site based around modern industrial and manufacturing uses, underpinned by a sustainable energy theme.
“While this vision is in its early stages, the proposed development is viewed as the catalyst, being the first new build on the redeveloped power station site, and by virtue of generating low-carbon and partially renewable energy for the future industry and manufacturing uses.
“With the planned closure of the coal-fired power station, East Midlands Development Corporation views the power station site, together with the proposed HS2 station at Toton and the East Midlands Airport, as the most strategically important catalysts for future economic growth in the East Midlands.”