Bath green utility firm 2OC has signed a 20-year deal worth more than £200m with Thames Water to pioneer turning cooking waste from thousands of London restaurants into energy.
2OC is helping develop a £70m combined heat and power plant in East London which will produce 130 Gigawatt hours (GWh) a year of renewable electricity – enough to supply just under 40,000 homes.
As well as taking the waste fat, oil and grease from restaurants and food products, the plant will also use fat from Thames Water’s sewers.
Thames, Britain’s biggest water company, says that these fats are responsible for most of the blockages in its 109,000 km of sewers and removing them costs £1m a month.
Pictured right: Andrew Mercer (right) CEO of 2OC and Piers Clark of Thames Water at the Beckton desalination plant
2OC chief executive Andrew Mercer said: “This is the culmination of many years of hard work from my world-class team at 2OC. This is good for us, Thames Water and its customers and the environment. Renewable power and heat sourced in London, generated in London and used in London.”
The company’s nearby Combined Heat and intelligent Power (CHiP) plant will pioneer the use of the fuels derived from fats, oils and greases (FOGs) which would otherwise be tipped down the drain or dumped in landfill.
Other fuel sources include oil wastes from food manufacturers, processors and tallow (animal fats). There will be no virgin oils from field or plantation grown crops. Thames has committed to working with 2OC to supply well over half of its fuel demand from FOGs from the start of operation in 2015, with the intention of increasing that over time. Thames, Britain’s biggest water company, says that FOGs are responsible for most of the blockages in its 109,000 km of sewers and removing them costs £1m a month.
The CHiP plant will produce 130 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of renewable electricity a year, – that’s enough to run just under 40,000 average sized homes. 75GWh will be purchased by Thames to run its sewage works and desalination plant and the rest will be sold on to the national grid. Waste heat from the 2-stroke engine will be used in the adjacent gas pressure reduction station allowing existing gas fired boilers to be turned off. Additional renewable heat is available for any housing schemes nearby.
J Murphy and Sons has been awarded the £70m contract to build the plant which will be operational in the first quarter of 2015. iCON Infrastructure is the lead investor in the Beckton CHiP alongside EEA Holdings Ltd and Deutsche Bank.
The CHiP plant has an overall efficiency in the high 90s per cent and world beating electrical efficiency in excess of 65%. Additional power is generated from the recovery of thermal energy (provided by heat from the engine) via a turbo-expander in the gas stream.
Thames Water commercial director Piers Clark added: “This project is a win-win. Renewable power for two of our critical services and a means of tackling the ongoing operational problem of so-called ‘fatbergs’ which are responsible for over 40,000 blockages a year in our sewage network.”
Paul Malan, Senior Partner of iCON Infrastructure said: “We are delighted to have become the lead investor in the Beckton project. It is at the heart of the capital’s infrastructure and has the long-term support of customers of the highest calibre.”
Advising 2OC on the deal were:
Financial advisers & auditors – PWC
Legal advisers – Norton Rose & Osborne Clarke
Technical advisers – Mott MacDonald
Financial Model auditors – Operis
