Plans have been revealed to build a new low-carbon energy park in South East London.

Cory Riverside Energy is proposing to develop the project in Belvedere alongside its existing Riverside Energy Recovery Facility (ERF).

Featuring a range of technologies including waste energy recovery, anaerobic digestion, solar panels, and battery storage, the Riverside Energy Park would help Cory ramp up production to turn 'black bin' waste into green electricity, generating heat for export to nearby homes and businesses.

In addition, residual ash left over at the end of the process could be converted into construction materials for building homes and roads in the city.

Key forecasts by Cory for the energy park include;

• Generating up to 96 megawatts of low carbon renewable electricity at peak times. Together with the permitted capacity of 72 MW from the existing Riverside ERF, the equivalent of powering around 300,000 homes across London.

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• A further 650,000 tonnes of residual waste diverted away from landfil, saving an additional 130,000 tonnes of CO2 each year

• New park would allow for a further 80,000 truck journeys to be removed by using Cory's existing river-based infrastructure on the River Thames to further reduce road traffic

• Capable of supplying up to 30MW of affordable heat energy to local housing

• Create a further 175,000 tonnes/year of construction materials from the EfW process for use in building

Public exhibitions on the plans are scheduled to take place in summer 2018, while work will be carried out with key public bodies and local stakeholders to identify the main environmental and planning considerations that will be addressed by the design of the Energy Park.

Following relevant approvals, construction is targeted to begin in 2021 with the Energy Park expected to be fully operational by 2024. More than 6,000 workers are likely to be required for the construction period.

Cory has selected Hitachi Zosen Inova as its Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor for the development.

Nicholas Pollard, Chief Executive of Cory, said: "The new energy park represents a huge step forward when it comes to meeting London's waste management and energy generation needs.

"Our current Riverside Energy Recovery Facility has been reliably operating at capacity and within all air pollution limits since day one, so expanding our energy generating capabilities in a more ambitious integrated Energy Park is the natural next step."

(LM)