Sewage sludge could be heated up to produce power under plans being considered for a £150 million energy facility in the East Midlands.
Plans have been drawn up for what could be called the Swadlincote Resource Recovery Park on land south of a sewage treatment works next to the town’s £10 million Willshee’s existing waste recycling base.
DerbyshireLive is reporting the scheme to turn waste into energy could power thousands of homes after early plans for a “scoping opinion” far ahead of a formal application were filed to South Derbyshire District Council.
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The plan shows the site would include an energy recovery facility and an aggregate recovery facility.
A website for the scheme had been produced by R&P Clean Power Ltd, which is registered to an accountancy firm in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The website says there is the potential to process “sewage sludge” from the water treatment plant nearby, reducing vehicle movements from the area which currently take this waste to Birmingham.
Recycled and treated waste would be heated – not burned – to power a steam turbine, generating electricity.
There would be a large chimney as part of the proposed site from which “discharge” would be released.
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The firm says the “discharge” would be “extensively cleaned and scrubbed to a level which is better than the Environmental Agency allowable standards”.
It says: “This ensures that what is released into the atmosphere is safe and will not harm the local environment or anyone’s health.”
The multi-million-pound scheme aims to “energise Swadlincote”, using thousands of tonnes of recycled waste – collected and refined by Willshee’s – to generate electricity.
The firm says the project would be “a hub for post-recycled waste recovery, recycling, reuse and green energy”.
It says: “The new Energy Recovery Facility will process some 230,000 tonnes of post-recycled waste, generating low-carbon electricity to power thousands of homes each year.
“It can also supply a green source of electricity and heat to businesses on the adjacent Appleby Glade Industrial Estate.
“This is an opportunity to increase regional energy independence and diversify from variable sources of green energy – wind and solar.
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“The Swadlincote Resource Recovery Park means we will divert up to 98 per cent of the waste away from landfill.”
It also says diverting the waste from landfill also avoids the risk of harmful methane gases generated when the waste deteriorates.
The website says the scheme could involve upwards of £150 million in private sector investment, with 39 full-time jobs set to be created and a further 180 jobs during the construction phase.
It details that the reuse of materials recycled by Willshee’s would be used to create low-carbon energy “closing the loop on effectively managing waste through recycling and reuse”.
Willshee’s would provide 70 per cent of the reused waste, with further waste provided by other sites in Derbyshire.