Our plan to establish the UK's first full-scale carbon capture plant for energy-from-waste took a major step forward this week.
Cheshire West and Chester Council’s planning committee unanimously resolved to grant approval to our Protos carbon capture project.
This pioneering project is expected to capture circa 380,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from our Protos Energy Recovery Facility, which is currently under construction near Ellesmere Port. That level of carbon reduction is equivalent to taking an estimated 200,000 cars off the road. The project aims to create a technical and commercial blueprint for similar facilities around the country to follow in future.
Planning officials said: "The reduction of carbon emissions and energy generation is supported at national level, within legislation, guidance and
policy. The proposed development would be one of the first such developments in the UK. As such, the proposal would positively contribute to meeting climate change initiatives and support economic growth.”
Welcoming the decision, Encyclis CEO Owen Michaelson said: "We’re delighted by the council’s decision, which represents another significant step forward on our important journey to deliver carbon capture at commercial scale. This project will contribute to regeneration and jobs in the North West, stimulate green growth throughout the supply chain and unlock opportunities to be a global leader in carbon capture. Our goal is to prove that we can continue to deliver a vital public sanitation service while cutting the CO2 emissions that contribute to climate change. We thank the local authority for its careful and efficient consideration of our application and recognising the strategic importance of this project.”
The project has already been selected by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero as part of its Track-1 cluster sequencing programme for industrial carbon capture.
It will enable fully sustainable treatment of unrecyclable residual household and commercial waste at Protos ERF, which is being constructed by Encyclis and joint owners Biffa. When it begins operations, Protos ERF will process up to 500,000 tonnes per year of residual waste, generating enough baseload electricity to power around 75,000 homes and recovering reusable resources in support of the circular economy.
The proposed carbon capture plant, on adjoining land, will capture CO2 from the facility which, as part of the region’s HyNet decarbonisation cluster, will be transported by pipeline for offshore storage in the depleted gas fields of Liverpool Bay.
The construction of the plant will support around 250 jobs in the North West region, and an additional seven full-time skilled jobs will be created when it begins operations.
We extend our thanks to all of those involved in working towards this important milestone.
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