Deeside biogas plant will bring £50m investment

Plans to build a large waste management plant in Deeside will bring a £50 million investment to the area, it has been claimed.

Flintshire Council’s planning committee backed proposals by Logik WTE to create a biogas facility on the former Gaz De France power station site on Deeside Industrial Park at a meeting yesterday, Wednesday 18 July.

The facility is expected to handle up to 182,000 tonnes of rubbish a year, producing up to two megawatts of green energy.

The company also revealed it was in talks to supply energy for two major companies on the industrial estate.

Speaking at the meeting, Dave Green from Logik WTE said:

“Not only does the plant create employment throughout the construction period and subsequent ongoing operation, not to mention the major investment in the North Wales area of over £50m which is all private investment coming from Israel.

It also brings arguably the most advanced and environmentally friendly landfill diversion process possible to date by diverting over 85 per cent of our black bin waste into recyclables and recoverables and thus supporting Wales in its zero to waste targets.

The process captures an extra 6,000 tons per year of valuable recyclables that by any other process would be missed. These are recyclables that are put into black bin bags by mistake and they are hard to obtain normally.

We are proud to have this advanced process showcased here in North Wales and for the first time ever outside of Israel, attracting a global audience.”

The process employed by the plant will use water to separate waste, which in turn is used to create energy using anaerobic digestion.

Mr Green said the company had already been in talks with Flintshire transport businesses, as well as general contractors to work on the scheme.

The former power station at the site was originally built in 2001, mainly to supply heat to the neighbouring UPM Shotton Paper Mill, but was closed in June 2012 after it stopped generating power.

In response to a public consultation about the new facility, the planning authority received one letter of objection claiming that the facility was not needed.

Connah’s Quay south councillor Ian Dunbar also raised concerns about emissions from the plant. He said:

“We’ve got a couple of concerns that we’d like addressing before the town council meets in July. One of the problems is of the fumes that are going to escape from this so-called anaerobic digestion place.

The other one is the effluent water that will go into the Dee Estuary, what’s going to be done with that? One big one is also the amount of vehicles that are going to be travelling back and forth.”

In response, senior Flintshire Council planning officer Martha Savage said:

“In terms of fumes from the anaerobic digestion facility, before I got into any detail I’d just like to highlight the fact that this facility would be regulated by Natural Resources Wales, so it would require an environmental permit to operate.

The facility is designed to be entirely enclosed. One of the products of the facility is gas, you don’t want that gas escaping because that gas is worth money, so the facility will keep the gas enclosed and the gas would then be combusted.

In terms of effluent water and the impact on the Dee Estuary, the facility would be designed to separate surface water and water that is either produced in the management of waste or the system itself. The system is designed to recycle the water.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Kevin Hughes welcomed the employment it would bring to the county, as well as the use of green technology.

Councillors unanimously voted to approve the plans, which will now go before Connah’s Quay Town Council at the end of this month.

By Liam Randall – Local Democracy Reporter.