07 March 2019

Contract award ratified for north-east energy from waste facility

The award of the contract to build and operate the energy from waste plant for Aberdeenshire Council, Aberdeen City Council, and Moray Council has been approved by the three local authorities.

A multinational consortium led by global construction company Acciona has been chosen after a two-year procurement process by the NESS Energy Project team. Acciona will lead the project using its own in-house construction skills to build the plant, and experienced waste company Indaver will then operate the plant for a 20-year contract period. Indaver currently owns and operates EfW facilities in Ireland, Belgium and Netherlands.

After being confirmed as the preferred bidder last month, a final decision by each of the three councils on whether to proceed with the project was required.

Moray Council and Aberdeen City Council members gave their approval at separate meetings on Monday (March 4) and Aberdeenshire Council today (March 7) agreed the award and the inter authority agreement which defines how the Councils will work together. The Councils will continue to work with the Contractor towards Contract Award.

The £150million energy from waste plant will take non-recyclable waste from Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, and Moray Councils and burn it cleanly and completely conforming to the latest and known future strict European standards for emissions. The energy produced will be sent to a district heating network.

The plant is due to is to be built by 2022 in the East Tullos area of Aberdeen and planning permission was granted in October 2016. From January 1, 2021, Scottish councils will be banned from putting any biodegradable municipal waste into landfill.

The three councils decided to work together in 2015 to secure a long-term waste management solution for the north-east with the tender notice issued early 2017.

Chair of Aberdeenshire Council's Infrastructure Services Committee and Deputy Leader, Peter Argyle, said: "Clearly there is still a long way to go until this facility is up and running and generating energy from waste which cannot be prevented, reused or recycled, but this is a milestone on the road towards a new approach to waste in our area.

"There has been a lot of work done up to this point, including our development of a new waste strategy for Aberdeenshire which focuses on increasing recycling and reducing the quantity of material sent to landfill.

"During recent consultation 73% of respondents were supportive of the council making the most of waste by disposing of it through the energy from waste process and I’m pleased all three councils are moving forward to achieve this together."

Leader of Aberdeenshire Council, Jim Gifford, said: "This is a really significant decision in terms of how we deal with the non-recyclable waste generated in the area that is collected by the Council and I'm pleased there was so much support across the chamber.
 
"This facility provides the solution our communities need to address the imminent landfill ban and ties in with ongoing efforts to seriously increase local recycling rates through the introduction of a new waste strategy in Aberdeenshire.
 
"It has been a lengthy and complicated process to get to this point, but I look forward to seeing work begin on the ground in due course."

You can find out more about the facility being developed at: http://bit.ly/NESSshire