The EPC contract to create the 21.5MW woodstock biomass energy centre was delivered by a Black & Veatch led joint venture. Providing execution certainty was central to the project’s success. In order for the client to benefit from UK energy regulator Ofgem’s Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) scheme, completion had to be achieved in advance of the ROC compliance deadline. This was accomplished.

Black & Veatch provided programme management as well as leading the engineering - including process and mechanical design - and commissioning work for the waste-to-energy plant. Ince’s primary technology is fluidised bed staged-gasification driving a conventional steam turbine. Ensuring delays in the delivery of some equipment did not jeopardise the schedule required innovative programme management including prefabrication of the boiler support structure, then lifting the structure and boiler modules through a custom designed opening in the roof of the main building.

Throughout the project Black & Veatch seamlessly combined its local and global power generation expertise to drive quality, efficiency and execution certainty. Nowhere was this more evident than in the deployment of a world-class commissioning team which was able to reduce the commissioning programme from five to three months – a factor key to achieving the ROC compliance deadline.

Black & Veatch is confident that the performance it has displayed at Ince, and other waste-to-energy projects, will make it a valuable partner for companies seeking to invest in the UK’s waste-to-energy infrastructure. The sector looks likely to remain buoyant thanks to support such as the UK government’s Waste Management Plan for England, published in January 2021, which states “We also want to work closely with industry to secure a substantial increase in the number of energy from waste plants that are formally recognised as achieving recovery (R1) status, and to ensure all future energy from waste plants achieve recovery status.”