FLI signs €35m British deal for waste-to-energy plants
Former British semi-state company Envar appraised 60 firms before selecting Waterford-based FLI Energy to build its bio-energy plants. The anaerobic digestion facilities will use food, agricultural and other organic waste to generate gas, electricity and heat.
FLI Energy’s business development director Micheal Geary said: “The projects we will undertake span the full range from medium-sized plants on farms to high-end plants digesting food waste with complex waste reception and pre-treatment systems with annual throughput capacities of 25,000 to 60,000 tonnes.”
FLI Energy has offices at Letchworth, Hertfordshire.
It will provide Envar with the full turn-key package for all of its bio-energy plants, working in conjunction with its technology partners HoSt, Holland and BAL, Germany and British-based specialist consultants and contractors.
With anaerobic digestion, the gas produced is either burned in a combined heat-and-power engine to give electricity and heat for use on-site, or for export to the electricity grid. The gas can also be upgraded and cleaned for export.
FLI Group has 200 staff. It has seven bases in Britain, one in France and another in New Caledonia in the south Pacific. About 90% of FLI’s €50m annual turnover is now accounted for by projects located outside of Ireland.
Group chairman and chief executive Michael Flynn says 15,000 jobs could be created here by setting up anaerobic digestion plants.
“Faced with an absence of incentives for renewable energy in the Irish market, FLI Energy, in common with similar renewable energy companies, has had to grow our business in Northern Ireland as well as in England, Scotland and Wales.
“The difference is dramatically illustrated by the fact that a plant generating electricity from waste in Newry gets a return of around 28c per kilowatt hour from April 2011 whereas a similar plant a few miles down the road in Dundalk would get around 9c for the same amount of electricity as there is not a tariff for renewable energy currently available in the Republic.
“Even the proposed tariff of 15c would pale in comparison. In order for the industry to be viable, a rate in excess of 20c per kilowatt hour of electricity sold to the grid is needed.”
