Energy from Waste industry set for expansion 06 October 2014

Demand is growing for intelligent and innovative EfW (energy from waste) plant solutions, according to Mitsubishi Electric, which recently returned from the EfW hall at the September's RWM 2014 (Resource Efficiency and Waste Management) show in Birmingham.

"The show underlined the big demand for smart and innovative EfW solutions, both in the UK and across Europe," says Louis Meyer, director of process industries of Mitsubishi Electric's European Business Group (pictured).

"We found ourselves discussing almost everything from field instrumentation, through control and automation, frequency inverters, low- and medium voltage switchgear – all the technologies needed for safe, efficient production of EfW, and for delivering this energy to the grid and/or district heating networks."

According to the EfW seminar sessions, the UK is currently building or planning 21 million tonnes per annum (tpa) of EfW facilities – against a projected requirement of some 25 million tpa. EU-wide, EfW capacity shortfalls are estimated at 75 million tpa – three times the existing installed EfW capacity in Germany.

Mitsubishi Electric's expertise in EfW is well-known: the company has been involved in projects for more than 25 years and runs its own power generation competence centre in Kassel, Germany.

Meyer says its lower profile in the UK EfW sector is changing.

Mitsubishi Electric operates as a single source supplier, covering all the requirements of an EI&C (electrical, instrumentation and control) project, from consulting, design and engineering to project management, commissioning and grid connection.

Meyer says the firm is also able to support operators in exploring how they can reduce time-to-first power on new builds and reduce risks on upgrades, expansions and other projects.

Activity levels and visitor interest at the RWM show demonstrate that the EfW sector is buoyant and prepared to invest in new plants and upgrades, modernisation and extension to existing plants, he says.

Brian Tinham

Related Companies
Mitsubishi Electric Europe BV

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