NORTH SELBY RENEWABLE ENERGY CENTRE
Making changes to a Renewable Energy Centre for North Selby
Peel Environmental and UK Coal have announced changes to the plans for a Renewable Energy Centre at the North Selby Mine site. This includes the departure of Science City York from the project and, in a separate move, the removal of the gasification element from the proposals.
The New REC Proposals
The proposals for the Renewable Energy Centre at the North Selby Mine Site now include:
• an energy recovery facility that will use Anaerobic Digestion (AD) technology to generate heat and electricity from up 70,000 tonnes of organic waste per year
• in-vessel composting (IVC) will allow the site to divert a wider range of green waste types from landfill. IVC is a controlled composting process that takes place in a covered building. The resultant compost is suitable for use on land, and can be blended with the solid residues from the AD process to improve its quality as a land use product
The withdrawal of Science City York
Financial considerations, the development of other projects and timing have all had their part to play in the consideration of Science City York’s decision to not press forward with a Biorenewables Research Facility at the North Selby Mine site at this time.
Science City York remains committed to biorenewables research, and already has funding in place for a semi-scale bio-demonstrator at another site. They are also awaiting the outcome of the first round of Regional Growth Fund bids following our submission to develop a new facility which will help offer further support in growing the region’s environmental business sector.
Why has the gasification element been removed?
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out for the Renewable Energy Centre looked at the effect of the proposals on the local environment, taking into consideration factors such as emissions, odour and noise.
Even though emissions and odour levels fell far below the permissible limits, when the noise assessment for the Renewable Energy Centre (REC) was carried out, it was found that the gasification element of the scheme was causing difficulties in achieving technically acceptable levels for this site. Gasification facilities are not particularly noisy but the topography of the North Selby site means that gasification for this location did cause an issue and, in the end, the Partnership decided it wasn’t viable.
As such, the gasification element has been excluded from the scheme and the Partnership will press forward with a larger anaerobic digestion facility.
Next Steps
We are still committed to delivering a research and development function as part of the project.
The new proposals, if given permission, will still make good use of the site and will make an important contribution towards the City of York’s renewable obligations and national climate change targets.
The Department for Environment and Rural Affairs is currently promoting the uptake of Anaerobic Digestion (AD) technology as an important approach to tackling climate change as well as for wider environmental objectives. Over the next few months, we’ll be doing our best to demonstrate to the local community the benefits of an AD facility at the North Selby Mine site.
About the Technology – How does Anaerobic Digestion work?
The revised proposal includes a 70,000 tonnes per annum Anaerobic Digestion facility.
Anaerobic Digestion (AD) composts organic waste, such as food waste, in an oxygen free environment to produce a biogas, which can be stored for use as a fuel or can be combusted on site to generate energy. Residues from the process can be used as a fertiliser and soil conditioner. The facility will treat up to 70,000 tonnes of organic waste a year to generate around 5MW of electricity.
Anaerobic Digestors are backed by Friends of the Earth as an appropriate way of processing biodegradable waste, and are a key part of the Government’s waste strategy.
Community Consultation
Consultation with the local community on the new proposals will take place following the production of an outline masterplan for the North Selby site. It is expected that this consultation will commence in July 2011.
The Community Liaison Group (CLG), which has already been established, will be provided with information about the proposals at a similar time.
In the meantime, if anyone has questions about the proposals we have outlined today, we encourage them to get in touch via the methods outlined below. However, we would like to stress that, until the formal consultation process is underway, we will only be able to provide people with limited information.
Information line: 0800 170 1418 (during office hours Monday to Friday)
Email: enquiries@northselby.co.uk
Website: www.peel.co.uk/northselby
Freepost Address:
FREEPOST RSKS-SBBE-LHHZ
Renewable Energy Centre
c/o PPS Group
30-32 Charlotte Street
Manchester, M1 4FD