FCC has secured funding for the construction of a £142M energy-from-waste facility at Millerhill in Midlothian, near Edinburgh, Scotland.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a loan of up to €300M for the construction of the offshore Rentel wind farm in Belgium.
Veolia Environnement has secured a €240M contract to build and operate a new waste-to-energy (WTE) plant for Syndicat Départemental d’Elimination Des Déchets De L’Aube (SDEDA) in France.
The UK, France and China have signed an agreement for the £18bn Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset, UK.
Swedish construction firm Skanska has won a NOK657M ($80.8M) contract from Eidsiva Vannkraft to construct Nedre Otta power plant in Norway.
TenneT, Statnett and KfW have begun work on the German converter station for the NordLink subsea cable project.
UK energy regulator Ofgem has given the go-ahead to the £1.1bn Aquind interconnector project between the UK and France.
French firm Veolia has signed a £1bn agreement with Hertfordshire County Council to manage the county’s residual waste for 30 years at a proposed energy recovery facility.
Finnish state-owned financing company Finnvera is set to provide £100M in financing for the construction of the MGT Teesside biomass plant in the UK.
The UK government has approved the construction of Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset.
Yorkshire Water has received planning approval from Leeds City Council for the construction of a new £72M sludge treatment and anaerobic digestion facility in Leeds, UK.The contract has been awarded to Black & Veatch with the civil engineering element being delivered by Clugston Construction.The new facility — to be located at Leed’s Knostrop waste water treatment works— will replace the existing sludge and bio-solid incinerator, which was built in 1993, and enable the more efficient and effective treatment of sewage combined with the additional benefit of renewable power production from the waste water effluent. The plant will have a capacity to process 131t of dry sludge daily and will generate enough renewable energy to meet 55% of Knostrop’s energy needs — enough to power 8,000 households.It will also help the company reduce its carbon emissions by 15%, and contribute to achieving the planned target of recycling 94% of the region’s sludge by 2020.The facility is planned to be complete in 2019.
Spanish-based companies Navantia and Windar have won a €120M contract from Iberdrola to supply the foundations for the East Anglia One wind turbines off the coast of the UK.Navantia will produce 34 jackets at its shipyard in Fene, while Windar will forge the jacket piles at its facilities in Avilés.The project — to have an installed capacity of 714MW — is being developed off the coast of East Anglia, UK, in the North Sea.The power generated by the wind farm will be sufficient to supply clean energy to more than 500,000 average UK homes. Iberdrola’s chairman Ignacio Galán said: “Thanks to the quality of the works carried out for our offshore wind farm in Germany and the know-how and expertise acquired in the fabrication of metal structures — both at Fene and Puerto Real yards — we are pleased to announce yet another contract award to Navantia, this time for the East Anglia One offshore wind project being developed by Iberdrola in British waters of the North Sea.”The East Anglia One wind farm will be commissioned in 2020.
A consortium of Balfour Beatty and Equitix has achieved financial closure for the £162.9M Humber Gateway offshore transmission project (OFTO), located off the coast of Yorkshire, UK.Balfour Beatty will invest £12.5M of the total required equity of £21M.The transmission line connects E.ON’s 219MW offshore wind farm in the North Sea, 8km off the east Yorkshire coast, to the onshore transmission grid.The wind farm includes 73 turbines, which are capable of generating enough electricity for about 170,000 homes annually.According to Balfour Beatty, its power transmission and distribution unit will operate and maintain the OFTO’s assets, including one offshore and one onshore substation and two cable circuits consisting of 18km of subsea and 30km of land cable.Balfour Beatty Investments CEO Ian Rylatt said: “This is our fourth OFTO contract to reach financial close and further establishes our position in the offshore transmission market.“Our technical expertise ensures we can efficiently and effectively, support the government’s targets to meet more of the UK’s energy needs through renewable sources.” The consortium will own and operate the offshore transmission line for the next 20 years.
Express Reinforcements Ltd (ERL) has been selected as the preferred bidder for the £100M contract to supply reinforcing steel for the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset, UK.The scope of the contract will include the provision of 200,000t of steel to main civils contractor BYLOR, a joint venture between Bouygues TP and Laing O'Rourke.The firm will supply rebar from its Neath and Newport manufacturing centres.Express Reinforcements’ managing director Andy Lodge said: "We are pleased to be the preferred supplier of reinforcing steel to this contract through BYLOR."It cements long-term relationships and puts Express at the forefront of reinforcing steel supply, having already been a major supplier to other key infrastructure projects such as Crossrail and Heathrow Terminal 5."It shows that our proven track record in delivering on these significant projects is highly valued and local, responsibly-sourced steel to the highest quality standards (Eco-Reinforcement/BES 6001) is fundamental to all involved on this construction."
E.ON and Statoil have started construction work on the €1.2bn Arkona offshore wind project in the Baltic Sea. The project, located 35km northeast of the German island of Rügen, will have an installed capacity of 385MW and will supply enough power for 400,000 households. The wind farm will feature 60 6MW-class turbines manufactured by Siemens and is expected to save up to 1.2M t of carbon emissions annually. E.ON Germany CEO Ingo Luge said: "As the mainstay of future energy supply, renewables must be able to stand on their own economically going forward."Electricity generation from offshore wind farms has already experienced a considerable learning curve and will soon be able to do just that. Through its high levels of investment, E.ON has made an important contribution toward this end."The Arkona wind farm is scheduled to be fully operational in 2019.
Gunvor Petroleum Rotterdam, a subsidiary of Gunvor Group, has received $200m of project financing for the development and infrastructural upgrade of its facilities.
British business and energy secretary Greg Clark has given development consent to an offshore wind farm project in the UK.The £6bn Hornsea Project Two, to be located at about 89km off the Yorkshire coast, is owned by Dong Energy and developed by Dong’s subsidary SMartWind.The wind farm — expected to be the world's largest when completed — will feature up to 300 wind turbines and will connect to the grid at North Killingholme in North Lincolnshire.It will have a generation capacity of up to 1.8GW of low carbon electricity, sufficient to power almost 1.8M UK households.Dong Energy UK country chairman Brent Cheshire said: "Development consent for Hornsea Project Two is very welcome. We have already invested £6bn in the UK, and Hornsea Project Two provides us with another exciting development opportunity in offshore wind.”“A project of this size will help in our efforts to continue reducing the cost of electricity from offshore wind and shows our commitment to investing in the UK.”The project will create up to 1,960 construction jobs along with 580 operational and maintenance jobs.Business and energy secretary Greg Clark said: “Britain is a global leader in offshore wind, and we’re determined to be one of the leading destinations for investment in renewable energy, which means jobs and economic growth right across the country.”
Wheelabrator Technologies is set to begin construction work on a new £340M combined heat and power plant in Kent, UK.The new Wheelabrator Kemsley facility will help divert 550,000t of waste annually from Kent and the South East of England that would have otherwise been sent to landfill sites or exported to Europe for treatment.The facility, expected to be operational in 2019, will also generate steam for a neighbouring paper mill and produce 43MW of electricity at full capacity.Wheelabrator UK managing director Paul Green said: “To achieve financial close is a significant milestone and I’m very proud of our team for making this possible, and excited to welcome a second facility in the UK to our fleet.”Arup associate director and energy & waste buildings business leader Ben Glover said: “As an industry we are increasingly acknowledging how valuable waste is as a resource for generating energy, but also the treatment of waste through an energy-from-waste plant reduces greenhouse gas emissions.“Facilities like these are shining examples of how great engineering can produce both environmental and economic benefits.”Wheelabrator is set to commence construction work on the project this month after an agreement was reached with all parties on its plans. The project is expected to create around 40 full time jobs.CNIM Group will serve as the project’s principal contractor, Clugston Construction as the civil contractor, and Arup as the lead building designer.
MGT Teesside has secured financing for the 299MWe Tees Renewable Energy Plant in North East England.The £650M biomass fuelled combined heat and power project — to be located on land within the Teesport Estate near Middlesbrough — will be delivered on a turn-key engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis by Tecnicas Reunidas and Samsung Construction and Trading (SCT) consortium.Biomass discharge services will be provided by PD Ports through the port of Teesport. Ben Elsworth, CEO of MGT Teesside, said: “The Tees REP project has had to overcome many hurdles in development but we have now successfully reached the next stage despite the difficult financing environment. We can’t wait to get work started on site and make this project a huge success for the Teesside region”. Cllr Dale Quigley, cabinet member for economic growth at Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, said: “This is a massive investment into Redcar and Cleveland, and we really welcome this news which will bring high-quality jobs to people in our borough.” The project will create 600 construction jobs and about 100 full time jobs once operational.Site preparation works are set to commence shortly, with main construction works commencing a few months later. The project is scheduled to begin operations in 2020.
UK-based construction and project management consultancy Turner & Townsend has been chosen to provide commercial support services for the £4.2bn Thames Tideway Tunnel in London.Under the contract, the company will provide project and programme management resources for the super-sewer project over the next four years.The 25km sewer tunnel — expected to be the second largest infrastructure project in London, after Crossrail — has been designed to reduce the millions of tonnes of raw sewage that overflows into the River Thames each year. Turner & Townsend’s director of infrastructure Peter Depledge said: "We're delighted to be playing a role in ensuring the timely delivery of such a huge and important project which will deliver a positive outcome for Londoners for generations ahead."Thames Tideway chief operating officer Mark Sneesby said: "As we start main construction work on the Thames Tideway Tunnel, we are confident that having the knowledge and expertise of three of the most prominent consultancies will be a huge asset in our work to clean up London's river."Turner & Townsend is one of the three consultants on the project’s framework.