The plant, near Heathrow airport in south east England, has a capacity to deal with 410,000 tonnes of waste a year.

It is capable of producing 37 megawatts of power, 33 megawatts of which is sent to the National Grid and the remaining four are used to power the plant.

Lakeside Energy from Waste is a joint venture between Grundon and Viridor harnesses energy from residual waste to provide green electricity

Lakeside Energy from Waste Ltd is a joint venture between Grundon Waste Management and Viridor, it was built by Itochu/Takuma.

Energy recovered from waste at the plant is enough to power the needs of around 50,000 householders in Slough close to where the plant is sited.

Lakeside Board chairman, Doug Benjafield, said: “Lakeside is a significant facility on the edge of London that recovers sustainable energy from up to 410,000 tonnes of residual waste.

“With the plant now operational, the opening event has enabled us to explain how we work with our customers to process that waste safely and provide green electricity into the National Grid.”

“The Lakeside facility is an excellent example of how effective energy from waste facilities can be in generating much needed, base-load power for the National Grid, largely from non-fossil fuels.”

The facility, according to Lakeside, also has the potential to supply heat, making it a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, futher options for CHP feasibility and implementation are currently being explored by the firm.

Luke Walsh

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