MVV Energie power plants in UK connected to grid

Having successfully completed their trial operations, the two British power plants at MVV Umwelt, a subsidiary of the Mannheim-based energy company MVV Energie, have launched operations in recent days. Now that the commissioning phase has been completed and the performance acceptance tests passed, both the energy from waste plant in Plymouth (south-west England) and the biomass power plant at Ridham Dock to the east of London are sustainably generating energy. Overall, MVV Energie has invested around Euro 400 million in the two projects.

Built in just under four years by MVV Umwelt, the combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Plymouth incinerates around 245,000 tonnes a year of household, commercial and industrial waste whose composite materials cannot be put to any other use. Its main client is the South West Devon Waste Partnership, a special purpose association of the cities of Plymouth and Torbay and part of the County of Devon. CHP-based generation enables 190,000 megawatt hours of electricity and 60,000 megawatt hours of process steam per year to be produced simultaneously. The energy is delivered to the neighbouring navy dockyard. It replaces the natural gas-based heating energy generation there and thus cuts CO₂ emissions by 73,000 tonnes a year.

At Ridham Dock, MVV Umwelt has built a state-of-the-art biomass power plant over the past three years. This plant generates 190,000 megawatt hours of electrical energy and usable heating energy from 170,000 tonnes of waste timber a year. The power plant procures its fuel above all from the Greater London region and thus avoids long transport routes for the waste timber on the continent.