EQTEC PLC (AIM:EQT) said it has secured a resolution to grant planning permission from Sefton Council to build a waste-to-energy plant at Southport on Merseyside.
Phase 1 for the plant includes a waste processing facility, an anaerobic digestion (AD) facility, combined heat and power (CHP) engines and a 2 megawatt (MW) battery storage facility.
Anaergia is the EPC [construction] and O&M services [operator] contractor for phase 1 with Rotunda, through its subsidiary Shankley Biogas, EQTEC’s partner on the project.
Phase 1 at Southport will see 80,000 tonnes of waste per year converted into six million cubic metres of biomethane to be injected into the national gas transmission system, with gas from the grid also used to generate 9MWe for export to the electricity grid.
A phase 2 plan to generate clean hydrogen from Southport is being worked on with engineering giant Wood Group.
David Palumbo, EQTEC’s chief executive, 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.
“With Anaergia positioned as the technology, EPC and O&M partner on phase 1, we have a strong foundation on which to proceed with phase 2, which would position EQTEC and Wood to deliver the UK's first RDF-to-syngas-to-hydrogen capability.”
In a separate announcement, EQTEC added it has appointed Petrofac as the front-end engineering design (FEED) contractor for its Billingham waste-to-energy project on Teeside.
A letter of intent has been signed with FTSE 250 group for the FEED phase and potentially for the EPC contract once funding is in place.
EQTEC added that as its plans at Billingham only account for 40% of the site, it is exploring a range of additional facilities for hydrogen production, battery storage and/or hydrogen refuelling.
“All such options would be subject to further planning permission and agreement of future owners of the project, which the company intends to sell in whole or in part."
Jeff Vander Linden, COO of EQTEC, added: "As our largest and most complex project, Billingham represents a wide range of opportunities for innovative application of EQTEC technology in concert with other technologies; but it also requires a different approach to assemble investment."