Build October 2016 NEW

Build Magazine 72 Sustainability & Eco By John Ord, Business Director for Thermal Power and Energy Networks at MWH, now part of Stantec. e’ve come a long way with our approach to dealing with waste. Not more than 20 years ago, the default position in the UK was to dispose of waste by putting it in a hole in the ground. Fast forward to today, and we see quite a different picture. Bioenergy has developed rapidly: there are now Mechanical Biological Treatment Plants creating high quality fuel coupled with advanced thermal conversion technology which is generating energy efficiently. Along the road to the state of the market today, we’ve seen regulations and incentives, to nudge the energy from waste sector along, come and go. Two opposing conclusions might be drawn from this: either that bioenergy can now stand on its own two feet and has entered the mainstream, or that government has run out of patience with bioenergy and now intends to let the market decide if it has a commercially viable future. Crossroads However, the reality is that we’re at a crossroads. On the one hand, we as an industry could sit back and hope for a favourable policy to prompt renewed development, on the other hand we have an opportunity to push forward the development of sustainable energy from waste facilities. It’s certainly clear that there is a feeling of uncertainty in the renewable energy market. Large scale subsidies, such as Feed-in-Tariffs have had their day, and the government seems to have set its sights and bulk of its investment on offshore wind. The source of the uncertainty is a simple lack of clarity about whether incentives for generating electricity from waste will exist in the future at a level that will make an impact. The sense is that the energy from waste industry cannot rely on government to provide the subsidies needed, the industry will need to take it upon itself to find the funding and investment required. Energy from Waste: At a C rossroads W This poses another set of tricky questions. Firstly, what form will the necessary funding and development of energy from waste plants take? Secondly, what will stimulate the evolution of ever more efficient facilities? The current climate is not supporting the creation of entirely new energy from waste projects. Instead, we’re seeing development of projects that have taken a while to reach fruition. This might be because of issues such as planning, feedstock contracts or grid connection holding up progress. So the financing of “new projects” isn’t really happening at the moment. Rather, projects that have a slow burn that have been mooted for several years are being branded as “new”. This will remain the case until government policy becomes clearer. Subsidies or not, we need to make the case for energy from waste plants. On a community scale, energy from waste facilities provide local and national benefits. First and foremost it provides a local sustainable, renewable form of energy, but it also insulates us from the EU’s energy from waste market, which will become less financially attractive as existing aging infrastructure and assets are retired and replaced. Turning up the heat We must also look beyond electricity generation with energy from waste. The UK has a big demand for energy for heating, which also needs to be decarbonised. Increasing the generation of heat from renewable energy sources will help the UK reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Crucially, this is a separate issue to decarbonisation of the electricity grid, and requires substantial progress. At present, the UK imports an enormous amount of natural gas for heating purposes. Energy from waste facilities offer an opportunity to generate the heat we need. Thermal conversion systems, though limited at the moment, may provide the key at a local level. At the moment, we still have Renewable Heat Incentives, a government subsidy to help push through renewable heat, so there is a chance for energy from waste to capitalise on this. This idea of decentralised energy generation is developing in the UK, and small scale energy from waste facilities can make a real difference at this level. Together with the innovation in smart grids, these facilities can provide both heat and electricity to meet local demand. Another emerging trend is private wire network arrangements. These are small scale energy schemes which generates energy close to the location it is supplying. By creating a direct connection between the consumer and the energy generator its cuts out distribution operators and their infrastructure costs. These savings are passed onto the consumer, thereby reducing their energy bills. Combining community scale energy from waste facilities with private wire networks to businesses through land developers is certainly an interesting prospect, and one that would provide a guaranteed stream of income. It’s clear that the energy from waste industry has many roles to play in the future of the energy mix in the UK. It not only acts as a source of electricity generation, but also as a vital component in the development of decentralised power generation and smart grids. It is also a crucial means of protecting the UK’s security of supply. Ongoing investment in thermal conversion technology and infrastructure will shield the UK from declining natural gas. So, we are at a crossroads, but there are many opportunities for the industry in the coming future. We need to look ahead and prove that energy from waste can make a sustainable and valuable contribution to the UK.