Isra-Mart srl:MP accuses government of ignoring waste-to-energy potential

www.isra-mart.com

Isra-Mart srl news:

A leading Labour backbencher has slammed government proposals to build a tranche of power plants to provide back-up power for intermittent wind farms, accusing the coalition of failing to capitalise on waste-to-energy technologies.

Speaking at a waste management industry event yesterday, Southampton Test MP Alan Whitehead, who is chairman of the Associate Parliamentary Sustainable Resource Group, urged the government to knit together waste management and energy planning strategies to ensure waste-to-energy plants supply a substantial amount of the UK's future energy base load and back-up capacity.

"What is lacking at the moment, in my opinion, is not so much whether there is simply money going into the process, but whether we have the vision to link up what was 'waste management', into 'resource management' and into the wider energy resource economy," said Whitehead, who is also co-chairman of the Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy Group and sits on the Environmental Audit and Energy and Climate Change committees.

Under the coalition's proposed Electricity Market Reforms the government could pay companies to make back-up power plants available, even if they are not producing energy. Whitehead urged the government to ensure the reforms favour waste-to-energy plants as a more sustainable option for back-up power.

A spokesman from the Department for Energy and Climate Change confirmed that waste to energy plants would be considered as a viable option for back up plants, if built and would also be eligible for proposed capacity payments as an incentive to build them.

He told BusinessGreen that the department expects to see gas plant developers display particular interest in back up power provision, but insisted waste to energy remained a viable option as it could also be switched on and off easily.

Whitehead also criticised the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for cutting funding for seven PFI waste projects without considering their energy potential.

"It is significant that when Defra appraised the seven PFI projects that have been terminated, the justification document that followed the announcement dealt exclusively with the extent to which this country could discharge its EU waste reduction obligation and landfill obligation and not in any way analysed the extent to which those projects and the waste in those projects might contribute to our energy economy," he said.

A spokesman for Defra rejecved the charge, stating that "the role of energy from waste in the wider energy economy is being addressed jointly by Defra and DECC as part of the waste policy review and the development of renewable energy policy".

Whitehead's comments came after one of the councils, which had the entire £100m of PFI funding cut from its proposed waste project, announced it will take legal action against Defra.

Last week, Cheshire's unitary councils said they planned to request a judicial review into the decision, believing Defra's methodology for assessing the merit of the scheme was flawed.

Commenting on the decision, Mike Jones, leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council said: "I believe we have a duty to our council taxpayers to pursue this issue with Defra'. After obtaining legal advice and consulting with Defra officials, the next stage will be for the council's legal advisors to apply to the High Court for permission to issue judicial review proceedings."

The news comes ahead of the release today of new research from the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), which will urge the government to overhaul its waste management strategy and scale back its emphasis on diverting waste from landfill in a bid to avoid mountains of low quality reusable material that lacks commercial value.