Enfinium announces £200m carbon capture plans for North Wales

UK energy-from-waste operator enfinium  is progressing plans to invest £200m in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology at the Parc Adfer facility in Deeside, North Wales.

The project could capture up to 235,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year. 

As more than half of the waste processed at the facility is organic, installing CCS would enable the plant to take more CO2 out of the atmosphere than it produces. 

Enfinium says the Welsh Government’s Carbon Budget makes it clear that Wales needs carbon removal solutions to mitigate other polluting parts of the economy to achieve a net zero economy.

Opened in 2019 in partnership with the five local authorities that make up the North Wales Residual Waste Treatment Partnership (NWRWTP), Parc Adfer currently diverts up to 232,000 tonnes of unrecyclable waste from climate damaging landfill. 

With CCS installed, Parc Adfer will support the Welsh Government’s ambition to have 100% zero carbon power by 2035 and support more than 1,000 jobs in the green economy during the construction phase.

The proposal has been put forward for grant support from the UK Government as part of the expansion of its Track-1 carbon capture programme. 

The captured carbon will be transported using the pipeline network currently being developed in the region for the HyNet carbon capture cluster, one of the first two priority carbon capture clusters selected for development in the UK.

Mike Maudsley, CEO of enfinium, said: “To deliver a net zero carbon economy, Wales needs to find a way to produce carbon removals, or negative emissions, at scale. 

“Installing carbon capture at the Parc Adfer facility would transform it into the largest generator of carbon negative power in Wales, decarbonise unrecyclable waste and support the green economy in Deeside and wider North Wales region.”

Ben Burggraaf, CEO of Net Zero Industry Wales, added: “North-east Wales has an exciting opportunity to leverage technologies like carbon capture and hydrogen to produce the sustainable goods and services of the future. 

“It is critical that projects like those at Parc Adfer move forward as quickly as possible to maintain our competitive advantage over other countries.”

Planning and consenting for the Parc Adfer CCS project will commence later this year. 

The UK Government is expected to provide an update on which projects are progressing through the Track-1 HyNet Expansion programme by the summer.

Enfinium recently announced plans to trial carbon capture technology at its Ferrybridge-1 site in West Yorkshire.

It has signed an agreement with global green technology company Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI) to install the UK’s first carbon capture pilot plant at the energy-from-waste facility.

The trial, due to start in July, will run for 12 months. 

The pilot builds on enfinium’s broader ambitions to lead an investment of up to £800m in CCS at its Ferrybridge 1 and 2 facilities, which together would capture more than 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 every year.