Decarbonisation efforts in North Wales advances
enfinium, a leading UK energy from waste business, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Eni UK, the UK subsidiary of global energy company Eni S.p.A, to support the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) at its Parc Adfer facility in North Wales.
By capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from its existing energy from waste infrastructure, enfinium has the potential to take significant volumes of emissions out of the atmosphere using CCS – known as ‘carbon removals’ or ‘negative emissions’, where biogenic material that has absorbed carbon from the atmosphere is permanently sequestered.
This agreement is the first step towards achieving this goal at Parc Adfer, one of Wales’s two energy from waste facilities.
Eni UK is the developer and the operator of the carbon dioxide (CO2) transport and storage infrastructure for the HyNet North West cluster, one of the two priority projects selected by the UK Government to deliver on its commitment to deploy CCU in two industrial clusters by the mid-2020s (known as the Track-1 CCS Cluster Sequencing Process).
enfinium operates the Parc Adfer site on behalf of five councils across North Wales. Every year it diverts 200,000 tonnes of unrecyclable waste from landfill, using it to generate reliable, homegrown energy, powering more than 45,000 UK homes and businesses. With carbon capture technology installed at the site, the firm is confident it would result in the net removal of over 100,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year. It would also accelerate North Wales’s decarbonisation efforts and create new clean growth opportunities for the area.
Mike Maudsley, CEO of enfinium, said:
“We are pleased to announce our partnership with Eni UK, marking a significant step on our journey to decarbonise our operations and the wider North Wales region. Energy from waste is the only proven long-term solution for sustainably managing unrecyclable waste, which is why we continue to look for innovations to reduce and capture emissions. If connected to the HyNet North West cluster, Parc Adfer would take emissions out of the atmosphere while also generating carbon negative electricity to support Wales’s renewable power targets.”
Ruth Herbert, CEO Carbon Capture and Storage Association, said:
“It’s great to see our members enfinium and Eni working together on plans for Energy from Waste with Carbon Capture and Storage, which can help Wales meet key policy goals – reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill, providing decarbonised electricity, and ensuring greenhouse gases from biogenic waste are removed from the atmosphere. With this project, North Wales could contribute to the government’s engineered greenhouse gas removals target of 5 million tonnes by 2030.”
Ben Burggraaf, CEO Net Zero Industry Wales, said:
“Today’s announcement is a welcome step in Wales’s journey to become the country of choice for sustainable goods and services. This partnership would significantly decarbonise the waste sector in North Wales, which would support a circular economy and attract significant green investment in the Deeside industrial area.”