Construction of West Midlands EfW to start this month

enfinium, formerly known as Wheelabrator, has announced it has reached financial close on its 395,000 tonnes per year capacity energy from waste (EfW) plant in West Bromwich, West Midlands.Called the ‘Kelvin EfW’, half of the plant’s capacity will be supplied by Suez under a contract it signed in January 2021. Further deals have been struck with Biffa and B&M Waste, enfinium said.enfinium, which has seven EfW plants in its portfolio, says construction of the Kelvin plant will begin this month but did not specify an operational date.With a catchment area that includes greater Birmingham, enfinium has previously said facility will help deal with a projected capacity shortfall of two million tonnes a year.Progress to reach financial close follows the granting of planning permission by Sandwell Council in September 2019 and the award of an Environmental Permit by the Environment Agency in July 2019.ConstructionSpanish infrastructure company Acciona has been named the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the delivery of the facility and has taken responsibility for the site.Acciona is also bidding to construct the new Edmonton facility in North London, and is also constructing the Abderdeen EfW.enfinium describes itself as the “largest pure play waste-to-energy business in the UK” and is a developer, owner and operator of seven “strategically located waste-to-energy facilities in operation, construction or advanced development”.This includes Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 and 2, Kemsley K3, Parc Adfer, Kelvin, Skelton Grange. It also includes Kemsley North in its portfolio, but this was rejected by the Planning Inspectorate in February (see letsrecycle.com story).The company, owned by a fund managed by First Sentier Investors (FSI), says it is “an integral part of the UK’s environmental infrastructure, diverting waste that cannot be reduced, reused or recycled from landfills and export”.