Green Investment Bank announces investment in new waste to energy project

A new £250 million energy recovery centre is to be built in Teesside with support from the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB). The project includes building all the necessary energy from waste infrastructure, including two rail interchanges.

The project is part of a 30-year Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract between the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) and a consortium of SITA UK, Sembcorp Utilities UK and the ITOCHU Corporation.

The facility will convert more than 420,000 tonnes of residual waste into energy each year, which would have otherwise gone to landfill.

The waste will be collected from the metropolitan boroughs of the MWDA (Liverpool, Knowsley, St Helens and Sefton) and the Unitary Authority of Halton Borough Council, serving a population of approximately 1.5 million. It will then be taken to a rail-linked waste transfer station at Knowsley and transferred to the new plant at Wilton, Teesside. 

The facility will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of more than 60,000 homes each year. It will also save over 1.8 million tonnes of CO₂e over its lifetime, equivalent to the annual emissions of 780,000 cars.

"This is our third significant investment in the waste sector in the past month, delivering on our strategy to finance long term energy from waste projects. During the lifetime of our investment, we expect the Mersey facility to generate enough electricity to power thousands of homes, from many millions of tonnes of household waste that would otherwise go to landfill."

Edward Northam
Head of Investment Banking, UK Green Investment Bank

Subject to local demand, the plant will also be able to provide heat to nearby businesses, with the capacity to deliver 190 tonnes of steam per hour via a district heating system.

The project is expected to create 75 permanent jobs, in addition to more than 100 jobs during the construction phase.

GIB will invest £20 million of the senior debt alongside Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A., London Branch; Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd; Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank; Mizuho Bank; Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Unicredit Bank AG, London Branch. Equity will be provided by SITA UK Limited, Sembcorp Utilities Limited and Japan's ITOCHU Corporation (on behalf of I-Environment Investments Ltd).

"This new plant will mean less of our household waste going to landfill and less reliance on fossil fuels for energy generation. It will also create 75 permanent jobs and hundreds more during the construction phase.  It is precisely the sort of project which we created the Green Investment Bank to support, as part of this country's transition to a green economy."

Vince Cable
Business Secretary

"The signing of this contract is great news for Merseyside and Halton, and for the environment, because it means we will now be able to begin building the necessary infrastructure to put this waste material to good use - rather than sending it to landfill. Agreeing this contract is also great news for local employment near our sites, because we expect to create around 75 permanent jobs and employ hundreds more during the construction process"

David Palmer-Jones 
Chief Executive Officer of SITA UK