The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has today granted Cory Riverside Energy (Cory) permission to develop its proposed Riverside Energy Park.
The energy park will be situated next to Cory’s existing energy recovery facility in Belvedere, on the banks of the Thames. It will feature another energy recovery facility as well as an anaerobic digestion facility for food and green waste, solar power and battery storage.
Once built, the new facility will divert up to a further 805,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste from landfill and produce up to 96MW of low carbon renewable electricity, the equivalent of powering around 140,000 homes. As with the current facility, the majority of the waste will be transported via barges on the River Thames, making London’s roads cleaner and safer.
As with Cory’s existing facility, the Riverside Energy Park will have the capacity to be connected to a district heating network, meaning that it will be capable of providing heat for around 10,500 local homes. Discussions are currently in progress with potential partners for this scheme.
This represents an investment of around half a billion pounds into the UK’s infrastructure, which will be vital for rebuilding the economy after the coronavirus pandemic has eased
The development will create at least 75 new jobs with apprenticeship opportunities in engineering, river logistics and business management. The Energy Park will require a workforce in excess of 6,000 people over the lifetime of the construction period.
Commenting on the decision, Group CEO of Cory Riverside Energy, Dougie Sutherland, said: “We are pleased that the Secretary of State has recognised the need for more residual waste processing capacity, and has granted us permission to begin development of the Riverside Energy Park.
“Currently, over two million tonnes of London’s non-recyclable waste is sent to landfill or shipped overseas, and so more domestic capacity is needed urgently. We are proud to be playing our part through the construction of this new facility.
“This represents an investment of around half a billion pounds into the UK’s infrastructure, which will be vital for rebuilding the economy after the coronavirus pandemic has eased.
“In the meantime, we will continue to focus on the health and safety of our staff whilst delivering the essential waste management service that the country needs during this period of uncertainty. We will support the national response to coronavirus in whatever way we can.”
