WORK could begin later this year to clear land paving the way for the building of an energy-from-waste plant at Lostock Gralam.

The EfW plant at the Lostock Works would recover 60 megawatts of renewable electricity from up to 600,000 tonnes of refuse-derived fuel a year.

The plant is to be built by Tata Chemicals Europe on land occupied by the old Lostock Power Station.

It will take between 12 and 18 months to divert the services which cross the site and to demolish the old power station, and then three years to build the new plant.

Tata needs to comply with 13 planning conditions before it starts work on site, and has submitted to Cheshire West and Chester Council a series of applications for approval detailing how the conditions will be met.

The conditions relate to the planning consent for the plant which was given in 2012, and expires in October.

The site clearance, demolition and diversion of services will start after the pre-commencement planning conditions have been discharged.

“The UK needs more renewable energy power stations as its old coal-fired plants are being wound down and decommissioned,” said the company on its website - lostockpower.co.uk.

“At the same time, too much waste is still being sent to landfill or exported to northern Europe, when it could better be used to recover electricity and heat in the UK.

“The soda ash Tata produces at its Lostock works uses a lot of energy, so having a source of reliable renewable energy on-site is a sensible way of controlling this important element of operating costs, and will help Tata remain competitive.

“The need for the energy-from-waste facility was established at the public inquiry and judicial review, and is now beyond legal challenge.”

Tata said the plant would recover energy from the residual waste left over after reusable and recyclable material had been removed.

“It will divert this residual waste away from landfill and generate enough non-intermittent renewable electricity to power about 125,000 homes throughout the year, thus contributing to urgently-needed national generating capacity,” added the company.

“The benefit of the Lostock energy-from-waste facility is that it operates all day long, throughout the year, producing renewable electricity which is therefore non-intermittent, unlike solar and wind power.”

The plant will be built by a company which has designed and built more than 90 waste-fuelled plants, of which 15 use refuse-derived fuel.

Tata said the plant was ‘entirely separate’ from the DONG Energy REnescience plant, and the two were not linked or dependent on each other.

The powers required to determine applications for discharge of planning conditions have been delegated to Cheshire West and Chester Council planning officers.

CHAIN (Cheshire Anti Incinerator Network) is asking people to register a complaint on Cheshire West and Chester Council’s online planning portal about the Tata applications to discharge the planning conditions.

The deadline for comments is Wednesday, April 19.