Following is a summary of the bioenergy projects:

• The new waste-to-energy plant in Leeds will have an electric output of 11 MW, enough to power 20,000 households. It is designed to process up to 20.5 tons of waste per hour of black bin waste a year, allowing the city to reach the target of recycling more than 60% of its waste. The plant is planned to go on line in 2016.
• The Battlefield waste-to-energy plant in Shropshire is designed to process 45% of the municipal waste produced in the county and generate enough electricity to power 10,000 households. The plant is planned to be operational in 2015. Both the Leeds plant and Battlefield facility are owned and will be operated by Veolia Environmental Services as well.
• The new biomass-to-energy plant in Estrées-Mons is owned and will be operated by Nerea, a subsidiary of the French group Akuo Energy. Once on line at the end of 2014, it will have an electric output of 13 MW, powering 25,000 households. The plant is part of France’s national green energy program CRE, which aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and curb climate change. The facility will also supply 25 tons of heat per hour to the food industry.
• The Ridham Dock combined heat-and-power biomass power plant owned by the German Mannheim energy company (MVV Energie) is located 30 km southeast of London and is designed to have an electrical output of 23 MW. It will use about 172,000 tons of old timber per year to generate almost 188 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, enough to cover the electricity needs of 60,000 houses. The plant is scheduled to be operational in spring 2015.

Metso’s automation solutions play a significant role in managing waste-to-energy plants successfully whilst providing critical information on process performance. At biomass-to-energy plants, automation from Metso contributes to maximizing incineration capacity, keeping combustion and steam production stable whilst allowing high production process availability.