Hitachi Zosen Inova to build WTE plant in Scotland

The Swiss company Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI) has been awarded the contract to build a waste-to-energy plant at the site of the Miller Zero Waste Parc near Edinburgh, Scotland. The system being installed will include combustion technology and a dry flue gas treatment system. The latter is expected to reduce water use and improve the energy efficiency of the plant.

The contract for the turnkey facility has been awarded to a joint venture consisting of HZI and the Spain-based environmental services firm Spanish FCC Medio Ambiente S.A.

The WTE plant has been procured under a public-private partnership arrangement with FCC E&M Ltd, a subsidiary of FCC Environment (UK) Ltd.

The project is the fifth in which FCC and HZI will work together. “HZI not only has a track record as a supplier of first-class energy-from-waste technology, it has also reliably delivered to us, on schedule, and within budget,” says Paul Taylor, CEO at FCC. “HZI has repeatedly proven that it is their utmost priority to always find and implement the best possible solution.”

The WTE project in Scotland is HZI’s first in the country and its 10th in the U.K. “As one of our core markets, the U.K. and Ireland are of particular importance for HZI,” says company CEO Franz-Josef Mengede. “After Paris, Oslo, London and Dublin, another capital city has chosen our technology for their sustainable waste management. This further underscores the fact that HZI has established itself as one of the global leaders in EfW (energy from waste) plant construction.”

The plant will handle around 155,000 tonnes of non-recyclable municipal solid waste from the Scottish capital and the surrounding area annually, and will be supply electricity to around 32,000 households. The delivered waste will be mechanically pre-treated in order to separate ferrous and non-ferrous metals for recycling.

Construction has been started and commissioning expected to be carried out by the end of 2018.

According to FCC, the contract represents a value of about 511 million euro ($US 570 million).

“The Millerhill recycling and energy recovery facility will play a decisive role in increasing the rate of recycling and reducing the amount of waste from Edinburgh and Midlothian that is disposed of in landfills,” says Taylor. “It also represents a major boost for the Scottish Government's Zero Waste plan.”

Carlos Afonso, director of Corporate Development and Concessions at FCC Environment International, notes that “the project is another example of the wide range of development strategies through which FCC can deliver capital-intensive facilities that benefit the local communities.”