The Energy Recovery Building houses the equipment used to generate electricity and heat from the residual waste materials and recover its energy value. The process used to generate this heat and power is called Gasification.

The generation of renewable electricity and heat (Combined Heat & Power – CHP) at the Sheepbridge Resource Park uses syngas from the gasification process as the fuel to create steam and electricity. The syngas fuel is combusted in a single chamber to give off the heat necessary to pass through a boiler that will generate high quality steam for renewable electricity production using steam turbines. The high pressure steam is passed through turbines that spin at high speed and generate electricity in the same way as many power stations in the UK. The electricity generated by the Sheepbridge Resource Park is then fed into the local electricity distribution network to be used by local homes and businesses – this is enough for more than 16,000 homes, equivalent to 38% of household needs in the Chesterfield district.

Waste that will be used in the Energy Recovery Building will be material that has already been sorted by other waste transfer stations and MRF’s as well as waste from supermarkets where cardboard and plastic packaging is removed at source. There will also be an element of waste such as oil filters, oily rags, meat contaminated packaging from food factories, paint scrapings from spray booths, etc. that under legislation is now considered as hazardous waste.

The electricity generated at the Sheepbridge Resource Park will be low carbon with the whole of Phase 1 saving in excess of 39,000 tonnes of CO2 by not landfilling recoverable resources and generating electricity from means other than coal or fossil fuels. In addition to this, gasification has been classified as a renewable form of providing electricity by the Government, although, for now the Sheepbridge Resource Park can only claim 50% of the power produced as renewable. This is based on the assumption that 50% of the waste being gasified is biodegradable e.g. food waste. This percentage will rise to 60% in 2013 and then 65% in 2018 so the amount of renewable electricity being generated at Sheepbridge Resource Park is set to rise over the next few years.

Additionally, there are great quantities of hot water at about 50°C that come from the cooling system of the electricity generating turbines. This hot water can be used in the winter for heating the Phase 1 buildings and offices as well as the Phase 2 units. The hot water can also be condensed and then used for cooling in the summer months, therefore the whole of the Resource Park development will be able to use green heat and power for its needs. This will be a valuable contribution to the start up businesses that are expected and encouraged to take up space in the Phase 2 development.

• The renewable portion of the electricity generated at Sheepbridge Resource Park is equivalent to 10 large (1MW) wind generators that would need 1 square kilometre in space.
• By recycling and generating electricity from the residual waste, the Sheepbridge Resource Park will save 39, 273 tonnes of CO2 per annum

 

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