LAWR

October 2014 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 19 ENERGY RECOVERY Gasification under the microscope The gasification sector is now emerging to take its place as a mainstream waste management solution, argues Energos' Nick Dawber. Here, Dawber examines the technology's current position on the energy recovery map and its future. asification offers the potential for the highly efficient conversion of waste into fuel, which will help contribute to a more sustainable future. Energos is leading this charge. With the award of its third UK contract, for the Derby and Derbyshire New Waste Treatment Facility, Energos is managing £170m worth of contracts, has a well- developed pipeline of projects and is seeking to develop its own in house merchant plants. Having overcome the 'technology risk' perception, we are increasingly confident that a solution will be found to overcome resistance to funding merchant facilities. Support from successive governments both under the Renewables Obligation and Contracts for Difference (CfDs) has been important in encouraging the employment of gasification but the most significant driver has been the decision of the ultimate clients (the local authorities) to employ an alternative to conventional energy- from-waste (EfW) technologies. Good economics at a local scale has been crucial and the financial support for the renewable content of the electricity helps to balance the "scale" issue when compared with large centralised EfWs. These large centralised plants benefit from lower operating costs provided by scale but have disadvantages including; visual impact, traffic and excess waste heat - beyond what can be realistically utilised in the community. Gasification is still in the early stages of propagation and Government recognises that it does offer an opportunity to develop further technically, to provide higher efficiency. Conventional EfW has taken decades to reach the top of its development curve and will continue to play its part in major cities. Economic benefits By nurturing the Advanced Conversion Technology (ACT) sector, the UK Government can establish a UK-based technology centre of excellence that can be the foundation for worldwide exports; to the benefit of the UK economy. The conventional EfW market is dominated by mainland European technology suppliers together with some Asian suppliers. This is entirely due to their domestic and EU policy that drove the development of EfW in mainland Europe, ahead of the UK. These countries now have little incentive to develop ACTs so the UK is ideally placed to dominate the sector. This is provided the Government doesn't repeat the past mistake, with "on-off" support, which stalled UK investment in the wind technology sector and allowed the mainland European industry to dominate the supply chain in a country that has the greatest wind resource in Europe. Excess waste treatment capacity in mainland Europe, combined with increasing recycling targets, has halted the development of conventional EfW in central Europe. In the UK, once those plants "in build" are delivered, it is difficult to imagine any new large- scale EfWs (whether conventional or not) will move forward. Lenders will be reluctant and few could be equity funded, whilst companies able to balance sheet finance are likely to face increasing shareholder pressure if fuel supplies are not secure under long- term contracts. Small-scale EfW must fill the capacity gap for communities around the country and provide much needed infrastructure to treat UK residual waste. This will take time, but we need to offer an alternative to exporting our UK waste resource to Europe. The term 'export' does not convey the real impact of the outflow of money from the UK economy and the giving away of its inherent energy. Furthermore, we lose local investment, employment and the benefits these bring to local communities, not to mention the fossil fuels burnt to make up for the lost energy being "exported". Where does Energos go from here? Technical developments will bring increased electrical efficiency, but efficiency will always be maximised where there is opportunity to supply heat. The advantage of small-scale " Excess waste treat- ment capacity in main- land Europe...has halt- ed the development of conventional EfW in central Europe " G

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