The small-scale waste-to-energy market is gaining traction across Europe. Different markets have different drivers, such as: industrial offtake schemes, local district heating networks, and optimization of waste transportation. One thing is certain, new large-scale WtE plants are nonessential. Local planning authorities also agree, as practically all new planning and building permits are for 100,000 tons of waste per annum or less. In this changing market environment, wasteWOIMA20 has the most to offer. 

The Challenge 

Traditionally, both the conventional power sector (coal, gas, peat, biomass etc.) and WtE market have been dominated by large units using hundreds of thousands to millions of tons of fuel annually with a thermal output well above 100 MW. The plant locations have depended on fuel logistics and/or off-taker capacity (electricity, district heating, industrial thermal etc.) The WtE plants have been built next to large cities with sufficient waste generation, or they have large collection areas. The economies of scale have also meant that the lower unit cost of large facilities has supported their profitability. 

A Scalable Solution

Now that the large-scale WtE market has reached its saturation point, suppliers are under pressure to develop cost-efficient small-scale solutions to address the novel market needs. Our answer is the wasteWOIMA20 WtE plant. It is the first WOIMA product based on our next generation flexWOIMA design platform enabling fast and flexible, yet standardized design of practically any size of plant. Incorporating modularity and prefabrication into the mix means that any plant size in the 10 to 25 MWfuel range is now available to the market. 

The new concept simultaneously reduces project risks through workshop-controlled quality, simple logistics and fast erection time on site, as well as delivering price-competitive energy. The plant can use practically all non-hazardous waste fuels (municipal solid waste (MSW), engineered waste fuels (RDF, SRF, REF), industrial commercial and institutional waste (ICI), construction and demolition waste (CDW), as well as agro biomass. Additionally, the plant delivers the exact desired combination of electricity, thermal energy, and steam for the different types of off-takers. 

Several project developers, especially in the EU and UK, are already working with WOIMA on this future mainstream market. Since waste generation is local, it makes perfect sense to develop the small-scale local WtE plants tapping into the abundant fuel source with a negative price. It also complies with the spirit of the latest carbon emission regulation by limiting unnecessary waste transportation. The standardization of the wasteWOIMA® product also enables us to serve project developers with standardized support documentation, significantly speeding up the project development phase. 

The project delivery will be a combined effort with our strategic partner, WOIMA Corporation. Sumitomo SHI FW is the global leader in power generation and storage technologies with over 800 references worldwide.  

Meet Sumitomo SHI FW at RWM & Letsrecyle Live, Booth R-K250, to discuss their range of waste to value and wasteWOIMA20 solutions.