Proposed Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) at Rye House, Ratty’s Lane, Hoddesdon

On behalf of Hertfordshire County Council, as the Waste Disposal Authority, we are planning to develop an Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) to process all of Hertfordshire’s Local Authority Collected Waste, that is left over following recycling and composting initiatives.

We have invited you here today to give you some details about our proposals, in advance of making our planning application.

Please take some time to review the information displayed and ask the team any questions you may have.

Please then feel free to provide us with your comments using one of our feedback forms.

Welcome

Who are we?Veolia is the UK’s leading recycling and waste management company, employing around 14,000 people.

We provide services to around 65,000 businesses and millions of residents via our waste, water and energy services across the UK.

We currently operate ten other ERFs across the UK.

Aerial view of the site (shaded) and surrounding area, looking west

Proposed Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) at Rye House, Ratty’s Lane, Hoddesdon

An ERF is a building where waste is incinerated and the resulting energy produced used as a power source.

In this case we will combust the County’s residual ‘black bin’ waste at very high temperatures, heating water to generate steam. The steam will drive a turbine and a generator to produce enough low carbon energy to meet the equivalent electricity requirements of approximately 69,000 average homes per year.

Residual ‘black bin’ waste is mixed waste that cannot readily be reused or recycled.

The ERF will generate low carbon, partly renewable energy and would be sited adjacent to an existing gas fired power station and other waste treatment facilities at Ratty’s Lane.

What is an ERF?

How the ERF will work

Proposed Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) at Rye House, Ratty’s Lane, Hoddesdon

The site is bounded by Ratty’s Lane to the south, railway lines to the north, River Lee Navigation to the east and Rye House Power Station to the west.

It is currently in use as an aggregates depot – the ERF will replace this.

The plan below shows the proposed ERF site in red.

The site

Why here?The Rye House site is an appropriate location for an ERF because:

o it is industrial land, already in use as an aggregates depot, neighbouring other waste treatment facilities and a power station;o there is good road access, allowing waste to be easily delivered;o there is an existing rail link;o it provides a waste treatment location within Hertfordshire to serve Hertfordshire; ando a connection can be made to the electricity grid, so the low carbon energy can feed into the national grid.

Sustainable Energy

Facility (underconstruction)

Location of the proposed ERF

Existing Rye House Power Station adjacent to the site The proposed development site

Proposed Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) at Rye House, Ratty’s Lane, Hoddesdon

It is national government policy for household waste to be managed in accordance with the waste hierarchy. The hierarchy gives priority to prevention of waste, re-use, recycling, recovery and then disposal, in that order.

Hertfordshire County Council and its partner authorities want to improve the management of the county’s waste, reusing, recycling and composting as much as possible, whilst finding a solution for residual waste that represents better value for money than its current arrangements. This facility represents ‘recovery’ within the waste hierarchy.

In 2015 the county, district and borough Councils reused, recycled or composted around half of the Local Authority Collected Waste, while the remainder – a substantial 260,000 tonnes – had to be disposed of.

Despite the aim to further increase recycling, reuse and composting, residual ‘black bin’ waste in Hertfordshire is forecast to increase to around 350,000 tonnes a year as the population grows.

Because of the environmental impacts and cost, the Council wants to reduce the amount of waste it sends to landfill. It has decided that a new ERF is the most efficient, sustainable and cost effective way to manage residual waste issues.

The money raised by selling the electricity produced to the national grid will help offset costs, provide a better deal for Hertfordshire taxpayers and assist UK energy security.

The Council has selected Veolia to deliver the new ERF.

The proposalsResidual ‘black bin’ waste will be delivered to the ERF by road, either via Waste Transfer Stations in bulker lorries or direct from the local area in dust carts.

The ERF will receive up to 350,000 tonnes of waste a year. The majority will be residual ‘black bin’ waste but in the early years there will be some similar ‘top up’ waste from commercial sources.

The site has an existing rail connection which we aim to utilise wherever practical, both during the construction process and for the removal of incineration residues.

The main components of an ERF are listed below and some are labelled on the image shown beneath:

o Tipping hall – where the lorries bring their loado Waste bunker – where the waste is storedo Boiler hall – where we burn the wasteo Turbine hall – where we generate electricityo Flue Gas Treatment Area – where the process gases are treated and vented to the atmosphere via two

chimney stackso Storage shed – after incineration, ash is sent here on a conveyor belt to be stored, prior to export o Administration area – where we have our offices, welfare facilities and space for visitors

Weighbridges will be provided to weigh lorries into and out of the site and site roadways are proposed which will include an external ramp to access the Tipping hall.

The by-products of burning waste are steam, water, gases and bottom ash. We use the steam to drive our turbines to create power. The other products are treated either on or off site. Air Cooled Condensers will be situated above the Tipping hall and will be used to cool the steam generated.

Around 300 jobs will be created during the construction of the facility and around 40 permanent staff will be needed once it is open.

ERFs are a great educational resource and a visitor centre will be provided for schools and local community groups.

Why is it needed?

£82.60 landfill taxper tonne

50%

of which went to landfill

Residualmunicipal waste

predicted to grow to350,000 tonnes

per annum

350,000 tonnescan be processed by the proposed

ERF

260,000 tonnes had to be

disposed of in 2015

535,000 tonnes of waste is managed in

Hertfordshire each year

Proposed Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) at Rye House, Ratty’s Lane, Hoddesdon

The building is sized to contain large-scale incineration machinery and will be up to 48 metres tall. Our current design includes two chimney stacks of approximately 87 metres, although the Environment Agency could request that this be increased to 100 metres.

Our design team has chosen a mix of materials and colours which are appropriate to the site. The design also includes site landscaping and proposals to improve biodiversity.

The images shown here give an indication of how our proposed development would look.

When we have finalised our plans we will produce several ‘visually verified montages’ to be submitted as part of the planning application, which you will be able to view. These will be highly accurate images of how the ERF would look, from local viewpoints selected and agreed with Hertfordshire County Council.

How could it look?

Initial design concept - view from the East

Initial design concept - view from the West

Proposed Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) at Rye House, Ratty’s Lane, Hoddesdon

The Transport Assessment

o A Transport Assessment is being prepared and will be submitted with the planning application.o The Council has asked that the assessment should cover all travel and traffic to and from the site by road (including staff, visitors, deliveries and

collections), by light and heavy vehicles, as well as other modes including public transport. This will include the routes of the vehicles and the times at which the trips occur.

Access and parking

o Road access to the site will continue to be from Ratty’s Lane. o Car and cycle parking for staff will be provided on site, as well as space for visitors and school trips.o Weighbridges and waste delivery/collection areas will be provided on site.o All large vehicles will be able to enter and exit the site and there should be no need for these vehicles to wait, park or turn around off site.

Traffic flow

o The majority of HGV trips to and from site will take place outside peak hours and be spread throughout the day.o The table below shows average HGV trips per day compared to those currently permitted for the aggregates depot on the site.

o The predicted vehicle trips assume all residues will be exported by road. However, we expect the bottom ash will be exported by rail using the existing rail access, therefore reducing the number of vehicle movements.

o Local Authority collected waste will come to Ratty’s Lane from several different sources across Hertfordshire. Residual ‘black bin’ waste from Hertfordshire will be delivered direct from East Hertfordshire, Broxbourne, and Welwyn Hatfield. From other parts of Hertfordshire waste will be delivered from Waste Transfer Stations shown below.

o HGVs will be directed to use the main road network. The majority will use the A10 North and the A10 South leading to the Dinant Link Road and Essex Road on the Ratty’s Lane. A small proportion will use the A1170.

Transport

Type Currently Permitted Predicted

Light vehicles (cars or vans)

No limit 45

HGVs 100 134

Proposed Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) at Rye House, Ratty’s Lane, Hoddesdon

o We already operate ten ERFs in the UK, so we have an excellent understanding of their potential effect on the environment and ways to reduce their impact.

o We use state-of-the-art technology in the construction of the ERF and all of our facilities must meet or exceed the strictest national emissions regulations.

o As part of our planning application we are undertaking a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).o The EIA will evaluate the likely significance of the environmental effects of the proposals, summarised in an Environmental Statement, which will be

submitted with our planning application.o The EIA topics and methods of assessment will be agreed with Hertfordshire County Council and other consultees such as the Environment Agency

and Natural England. These include transport, noise, visual, air quality, ecology, surface water and ground water.

Emissions and air qualityo Emissions (flue gas) will be released, following treatment, via two stacks - tall chimneys on top of the building. o The flue gas is carefully filtered, to exceed the most stringent rules on what can be emitted from a facility like this. o Filtering removes undesirable particles like acid gases, heavy metals, dioxins/furans and particulates before leaving the stacks. o All ash is contained within the ERF, so will not exit through the stacks. o The design of the stacks will ensure a safe and compliant dispersal of emissions. o We will model several different heights of stack and assess the projected emissions before the final height is selected. The Environment Agency will

have to agree this and issue an Environmental Permit before the ERF can operate. o The Environment Agency will then continue to regulate emissions from the stacks and verify that we are meeting the limits imposed.o We monitor emissions in real time, so we always know what is being released from the ERF. As with our existing ERFs we will publish monitoring results

of emissions on our website.o We are already in the process of establishing the current air quality around the site. Locations of our monitors can be seen on the plan shown here. The

results will be submitted as part of our application. o It is likely that as part of the planning process we will be required to produce a public health impact statement.o Potential air quality impacts from traffic movements to and from the facility will be considered in the Environmental Statement that will be submitted

with the planning application.o A Sustainable Energy Facility is already under construction, just to the south of Ratty’s Lane, which will process commercial and industrial waste to

produce energy. The EIA will take account of this and the adjacent power station.

Current position of air quality monitors

Assessing the potential environmental impact

Introduction

Proposed Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) at Rye House, Ratty’s Lane, Hoddesdon

To ensure maximum efficiency the ERF will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. We use several tried-and-tested techniques to minimise noise impacts on our neighbours, including:

o silencers, acoustic screens and sound insulation;o automatic closing doors, to retain noise within the building;o fans with anti– vibration supports, to avoid vibration transferring to the building structure;o several silencers for noisy equipment; ando use of special reversing bleepers on vehicles, which are quieter than the standard reversing alarms.

In general, all external building plant will be designed to ensure that the combined noise from the entire facility will be acceptable at the closest residences.

We are in the process of calculating the predicted noise levels during the operation of the ERF and ensuring that they will be within acceptable limits. The Environmental Statement will include the results of the noise impact assessment.

Maximum noise levels will be controlled by planning condition which will allow the Local Authority to monitor actual levels and take enforcement action if these are exceeded.

Flood risk and ground water contaminationThe ERF is designed so no untreated water from waste processing will be released into the surrounding environment. In most circumstances water will be reused within the facility itself.

In an abnormal situation – such as during maintenance – tankers will be used to take the water off site, for treatment and disposal.

We will have an Environmental Permit, which will address our ability to control and measure potential emissions to surface water and ground water, as well as air.

A Flood Risk Assessment will also be included in the planning application and will need to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Environment Agency that the development will not cause flooding – either to the facility itself or to nearby residents or businesses.

Other topics, such as ecology, will be covered in the Environmental Statement. Please speak to a member of the team if you have any questions about these topics.

Assessing the potential environmental impact

Noise

Proposed Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) at Rye House, Ratty’s Lane, Hoddesdon

27 June - 25 July 2016

Pre-application consultation

period

Autumn /Winter 2016 2017 2020

Planning Applicationsubmitted to

Hertfordshire CountyCouncil Planning Authority

Consultation byHertfordshire

County Council

Constructionbegins

(subject toapproval)

Operationbegins

Before we submit a planning application we are running a four week consultation period, which will end on 25 July. We are inviting your feedback during this time.

You can fill in a comment form here today, post it to us using the details provided, or email us at the address at the bottom of this board.

After 25 July we will take some time to review your feedback and, where appropriate, use it to shape our final plans.

We are also in contact with some of your elected parish, district and county councillors and will continue to liaise with them as the application progresses.

Our application will then be submitted to Hertfordshire County Council’s planning department. We expect that this will happen in autumn/winter 2016.

We will update our website during this process and you can get in touch with us at any point to ask questions.

Should planning consent be granted, we would look to begin construction in 2017 and open the facility in 2020.

Throughout construction and into the operation of the ERF we will provide details of a dedicated Community Liaison Officer, who will be able to answer any questions you may have about the site or our operations.

Initial design concept - view from the East

Next steps

Who decides?o Elected councillors who sit on Hertfordshire County Council’s Development Control Committee will ultimately make the decision on whether this

goes ahead. They will be advised by planning officers who themselves are informed in part by gathering comments and feedback from a whole range of stakeholders including local residents, Natural England and the Environment Agency.

o When we have submitted our planning application, the Council will run its own consultation on the proposals, to get feedback from the public. Councillors and officers will consider this feedback when making their decision.

o We are working with the council’s Waste Disposal Authority to deliver the ERF. The Waste Disposal Authority manages the procurement of waste treatment facilities and is entirely independent of the planning process and the elected councillors who will ultimately make the decision.