Electricity from waste for south-east London

A power station burning waste is to be built in south-east London. It will have a capacity of 72 MW and will be fuelled by waste that would otherwise go to landfill. In a written statement, energy minister Malcolm Wicks said, ‘I have today granted consent to the application by Riverside Resource Recovery Ltd to build and energy-from-waste power station in Belvedere, south east London. This decision was taken after careful consideration of the recommendations from the public-inquiry inspector, who oversaw two public enquiries that looked into this application in 2003 and 2005. ‘I agree with the inspector that even if London were to meet the ambitious recycling targets envisaged by the Mayor for London, there will still be ample residual waste to fuel the station.’ Waste will be delivered to the site mainly by barge along the River Thames.