Powerday Partners With Mvv Environment At Ridham Docks

Powerday has signed a contract to send around 30,000 tonnes per annum of mixed waste wood to MVV Environment’s new Ridham Docks biomass power plant.

MVV Environment is the UK branch of MVV Energie, one of Germany’s leading energy groups and has built the 23 megawatt plant at the docks on the Swale in Kent. Using 172,000 tonnes of waste wood per year, the plant will generate almost 188 million kilowatt-hours of electrical energy enough to power up to 38,000 homes and heat which can be used for local industry.

The fuel that Powerday is providing to the plant is produced at Powerday’s Materials Recycling Facilities and is derived from mixed wood that Powerday collects from construction sites in and around London. This mixed material is not suitable for reuse and therefore could otherwise end up in landfill sites.

Simon Little, Sales & Marketing Director, Powerday says: “We are delighted to announce this partnership which will see our customers’ waste wood go to a UK based state-of-the-art CHP plant, further reducing ours and our customers impact on the environment whilst helping meet the UK waste agenda and renewable fuel targets.

“We have been working towards the commencement of this contract for three years now as part of our core objective of investing in plant technology and contracts that ensure that the UK’s valuable resources are used to produce recyclable materials and quality renewable fuels in the UK. This plant is an excellent example of where modern technology is satisfying a gap in the UK domestic market and where an experienced team has used this technology and sought strong partnerships with commercial operators in order to make the most of the UK’s resources.”

Ken Walsh, Managing Director MVV Environment Ridham, says: “It is good to have Powerday on board in a reliable partnership as one of our suppliers. Their experience will help ensure our Ridham facility is a success”.

The UK generates an estimated 4.5 million tonnes of waste wood a year[1] the majority of which ends up in landfill and in 2012 sent over 1.2million tonnes of waste wood to biomass plants in the UK and abroad[2].

The commencement of this contract comes on the back of the recent announcement that Powerday is partnering with Asset Gen in the creation of a modern energy-from-waste plant in Hoddeston which will be taking the renewable fuels created from residual waste generated at Powerday’s new MRF in Enfield.

MVV’s Ridham Docks plant will be fully open in early summer of 2015. Find out more about MVV Environment.

[1] WRAP ‘Wood Waste Market in the UK’ 2009
[2] ‘Waste wood to market’ figures for 2012 from Wood Recyclers Association members