Veolia ES waste management and energy company E.ON have been announced as the last remaining contenders in the bid to build a £800m waste-to-energy incinerator in Hertfordshire. Both companies want to build the facility as part of the PFI-funded waste treatment contract.
E.ON plan to use a site near St Albans, while Veolia proposes building the plant at a council-owned plot near New Barnfield. The successful bidder will secure a 25-year deal and be responsible for processing 270,000 tonnes of the county’s household waste a year.
The news signals an end of campaigns from EFW and Wheelabrator from the USA and incinerator specialists MVV Umwelt from Germany. These companies featured on a previous shortlist for the contract in November. After all four former contenders submitted detailed plans to the council last April, before a decision was made to cut the shortlist by two earlier this month.
According to the council, the bids were assessed on their financial, environmental, commercial, technical and legal benefits. The main aim of the site is to divert waste away from landfill while providing energy from the material.
Derrick Ashley, the council’s executive member for waste, said residents were behind the project and keen to recycle more, cut the amount of waste going to landfill and see rubbish converted into energy. He added that residents with concerns about the facility would be able to voice them during an upcoming public consultation period.
The two remaining bidders will now be asked to demonstrate the suitability of their chosen sites and refine their original bids. Final tenders are expected in January next year and the preferred bidder will be chosen in June.
Planning permission will also need to be passed before a contract is signed in August 2011, but the plant is not expected to be up and running until April 2015. In March last year, the project received £115.3m in PFI funding from Defra.
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