£200m carbon capture project unveiled for Deeside’s Parc Adfer

Energy from waste operator Enfinium has unveiled plans to invest £200 million in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology at the Parc Adfer facility in Deeside.

The project could capture up to 235,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year.

Over half of the waste processed at the facility is organic. Enfinium said installing CCS would enable the plant to take more CO2 out of the atmosphere than it produces.

Parc Adfer opened in 2019 and is managed under a Public-Private Partnership involving Flintshire, Isle of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, and Denbighshire councils. It means that waste from those other areas of north Wales is brought to Deeside and processed.

Annually, the facility burns around 2.3 million tonnes of non-recyclable waste, generating enough energy to power over 45,000 homes and businesses.

With CCS installed, Parc Adfer “will support the Welsh Government’s ambition to have 100% zero carbon power by 2035 and support over 1,000 jobs in the green economy during the construction phase,” Enfinium has said.

The proposal has been put forward for grant support from the UK Government as part of the expansion of their ‘Track-1’ carbon capture programme.

The captured carbon will be transported using the pipeline network currently being developed in the region for the HyNet carbon capture cluster.

The pipeline was given the green light last month by Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Claire Coutinho.

It will transport CO2 from industrial areas in the North West and North Wales through Deeside, and store it in depleted gas reservoirs in Liverpool Bay.

Mike Maudsley, CEO of Enfinium, said: “To deliver a net zero carbon economy, Wales needs to find a way to produce carbon removals, or negative emissions, at scale.”

“Installing carbon capture at the Parc Adfer facility would transform it into the largest generator of carbon negative power in Wales, decarbonise unrecyclable waste, and support the green economy in Deeside and the wider North Wales region.”

Ben Burggraaf, CEO of Net Zero Industry Wales, commented: “North-East Wales has an exciting opportunity to leverage technologies like carbon capture and hydrogen to produce the sustainable goods and services of the future.”

“It is critical that projects like those at Parc Adfer move forward as quickly as possible to maintain our competitive advantage over other countries.”

Planning and consenting for the Parc Adfer CCS project will commence later this year.