Waste-to-energy plant to be built on Crowland Street

A waste-to-energy plant dealing with 80,000 tonnes of waste per year will be built on Crowland Street after planning permission was granted for a second time.

A similar application was successfully lodged in 2016 but didn’t progress due to difficulty complying with the approval conditions.

EQTEC Plc say planning permission has been granted for “Phase 1” of the project, while planning permission for “Phase 2” will be sought in the near future, allowing the plant to process an additional 25,000 tonnes of waste.

If phase 2 is also completed, the plant would fulfil up to 20% of the town’s energy requirements.

The plant will be built on the unadopted section of Crowland Street, past the turn into Russell Road, on land owned by Southport Skip Hire.

EQTEC estimates that the additional capacity for the thermal conversion of waste has the potential to generate £70 million in electricity sales, up to £15 million in heat sales over a 20 year period, and save over £80 million in disposal costs.

David Palumbo, CEO of EQTEC, said: “This is great news for Southport, which we have anticipated these past months.

“As the co-developer of the project, EQTEC has a strong interest in seeing construction get underway and this advances us significantly toward that work.

“We enjoy strong local relationships, strong local support and strong partners, a perfect combination for building this innovative, commercially sustainable, baseload energy solution for Southport’s Net Zero future.”