Project Update Bulletin 15

Here you can read about the latest progress on the construction of Gloucestershire’s Energy from Waste facility.

Overall, construction is progressing at a great pace, particularly the civil engineering groundworks, and the erection of the steel work to support the buildings and the various components of process equipment.

Installation of the process equipment is gathering momentum. Work within the main building to define various rooms and workshops, called block work, has now been completed, with work continuing on the construction of the concrete fire water tank close to the site entrance. Once completed, the fire water tank will be completely surrounded and covered by a mound of soil and then landscaped, ultimately hiding the cement structure and blending it in with the natural environment.

The external facade is nearly finished on the Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA) hall, the first building to be completed. The concrete floors of the administration block have now been installed and the facade on this part of the building has also started. The construction of steelwork over the bunker, which supports the building and the waste cranes, is going to schedule as well.

Nearly all of the sections of the boiler have now been installed and work is in progress to connect all of the boiler panels and water/steam circulation pipework. Construction of the air-cooled condensers (ACC) will start this summer. This part of the facility converts the steam after it has passed through the turbine, known as low-grade steam, back into water to be re-circulated and reused in the boiler.

The main elements of the flue gas treatment system have been installed and are now being connected together. The system is made up of the gas cooling tower, the treatment vessel (where lime and activated carbon are injected into the gas stream to capture harmful substances and reduce alkalinity), and the bag filters to collect the gas treatment products.

The main fan and associated pipework, which will draw the flue gases through the treatment system and up the stack, are also now in place. The turbine and electricity generator have also been installed on site. Further to this, the electricity cable which takes power off-site to the national grid, is now installed to the on-site transformer and substation, which has recently also been completed.

At the moment, there are around 250 people working on the site with some evening and weekend working taking place, as planned. We’re expecting the number of staff on site to increase to around 400 during the summer. There are up to 120 deliveries per day and some 30 pieces of mobile plant and equipment in use. As always, site operations and Health and Safety continue to a high standard.

The Gloucestershire Energy from Waste facility is part of Gloucestershire’s Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy, which aims to reduce, recycle, and recover waste materials across the county, and move away from reliance on end-of-life landfill.

For more information about the project, please visit www.ubbgloucestershire.co.uk. Our emergency out-of-hours contact telephone number is 07860 268578.