The Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 (FM1) project has successfully completed its commissioning phase and has now entered full commercial operation.
FM1, a 50:50 joint venture project between SSE and Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., takes waste derived fuels from various sources of municipal solid waste, commercial and industrial waste and is now capable of contributing around 70MW of electricity to the National Grid, enough to power around 160,000 homes.*
The new power station, which is located on land next to Ferrybridge ‘C’ Power Station, has been under construction for over three years by Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI) who are the main contractor. Commercial operation marks the culmination of months of commissioning activities to prove the new power station's capabilities. HZI have now handed over full responsibility to the 46-strong Multifuel Energy operational team who will now run the FM1 facility. The final milestone in the commissioning works was reached on 31 July when HZI completed a series of operability tests.
Tom Maillet, Director of Engineering and Operations for Multifuel Energy Ltd. said: “The commencement of commercial operations at the Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 project is a great achievement for everyone who has been involved and I would like to thank each and every team member for their hard work and dedication. I would also like to thank HZI for delivering such a high quality plant. We are excited to reach this milestone, and are now looking forward to concentrating on operating safely, successfully and efficiently.”
Franz-Josef Mengede, CEO of Hitachi Zosen Inova said: “Today marks the end of the construction phase to build the Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 project. We are proud to deliver a plant that sets a new milestone in fuel flexibility, size and energy efficiency to our customer safely and within the expected timeframe.”
Further information about the Ferrybridge Multifuel projects is available on the website www.multifuelenergy.com or by contacting the project team by e-mail: [email protected].
* Based on the industry average annual household consumption of 3,300 KWh of electricity and using a base load of circa 70MW net export capacity utilised for 8000 hours per annum.