The Levenseat project will see a 12.5MW energy from waste (EfW) plant built alongside – and ultimately used to power – a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF).

Working together, the two facilities will save around 1.3 million tonnes of CO2e emissions, recycle 1.4m tonnes of materials and produce enough electricity to supply the equivalent of almost 18,000 homes over their lifetime.

It will also be the first time a UK plant has combined fluidised bed gasification technology with Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), processed by the MRF. 

Modernising waste infrastructure

GIB chief executive Shaun Kingsbury said: “This first-of-kind project is the latest innovative example of how the UK is modernising its waste management infrastructure.

“By increasing recycling and using the remaining waste to produce energy, the Levenseat project will make a significant contribution towards Scotland’s ‘zero waste plan’.”

The MRF is expected to become operational in January 2017, with the complete plant commencing operations in June of that year. Given its location near the centre of the M8 corridor, the facility will be well placed to process household waste from several local authorities and commercial waste from the Glasgow and Edinburgh regions.

Landmark investment

Earlier in March the GIB made a ‘landmark’ £30m investment in the construction of a new £60m advanced-technology Waste to Energy (WtE) plant in Hertfordshire.

It will be the first commercial scale, Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) gasification plant to be financed by third party investors in the UK and represents one of the largest investments by the GIB to date outside of wind projects.

So far the Bank has mobilised more than 5bn of finance for green projects. Last week it released a handbook to help other large-scale investors make sustainable investment decision.

Funding sustainability at Sustainability Live 2015

The Green Investment Bank’s head of sustainable finance Gavin Templeton will feature among an expert panel discussing funding sustainability at our brand new high-level Conference at Sustainability Live 2015 in April. The panel will explore how to get access to funding and the types of funding available – public and private.

Find out more and register to attend the Sustainability Live 2015 Conference for free here.

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