WESTFIELD - EMBODYING THE ENERGY TRANSITION
Westfield was the site of one of the UK’s largest open cast coal mines. Mining began in the 1950s and finished in the 1990s, taking much of the local economy with it. The site has been largely derelict since then and following the collapse of Scottish Resources Group in 2013 the 1049-acre site was acquired by Hargreaves Services.
Brockwell Energy has been working closely with Hargreaves Services as its energy project developer of choice to develop the site and surrounding area.
In December 2021, Brockwell Energy secured the land rights, planning & environmental consents, construction & operating contracts, fuel, grid connection, services agreements, and all financing required to progress with the 79MWth / 23MWe energy from waste facility on the Westfield site, on behalf of the dedicated project company (Westfield Energy Recovery Limited (“WERL”)).
WERL has formally engaged with a subsidiary of Brockwell Energy (Brockwell Energy Services) to provide management services to the project.
In January 2022, Viridor and Equitix completed a transaction to jointly own 100% of the shares in WERL. WERL has engaged with a subsidiary of Brockwell Energy (Brockwell Energy Services) to provide the ongoing management services for the project.
ABOUT WESTFIELD ENERGY RECOVERY FACILITY (WERF)
The Westfield Energy Recovery Facility (WERF) is vital infrastructure for Scotland in its ‘Zero Waste’ and ‘Net Zero’ carbon ambitions and is expected to treat at least 240,000 tonnes of household-type waste from the surrounding area every year for decades to come, in a more economical and cleaner manner than the landfill alternative. Want to read more about energy from waste?
Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI), one of the world’s leading energy from waste contractors, have been engaged to engineer, procure, construct, operate and maintain the Westfield ERF. Construction began in December 2021 and commissioning is expected to commence in the last quarter of 2024. WERL are now actively exploring:
- the addition of a highly efficient heat network to provide a good value heating solution to businesses taking up occupation of various plots of land or local residential / business parks off-site
- the addition of carbon capture to the ERF to become a much-needed carbon negative facility in the critical mission to reach net zero
- the addition of hydrogen production from the ERF to decarbonise the transport of the waste that fuels the ERF, alongside other vehicles
The energy from waste project is also a major catalyst for development of the wider Westfield site, including Brockwell Energy’s 35.4-hectare solar photovoltaic and battery storage prospect. Such sustainable energy sources and storage are important parts of our present and future energy mix as demand for electrical energy is set to surge.
Even as coal is phased out of the UK’s energy generation mix, the Westfield ERF means that the Westfield site will again play an important part in ensuring the security of the electricity grid and help revive economic prosperity in the local area.
