Babcock & Wilcox pursues waste-to-energy in Europe
US-based services company Babcock & Wilcox said June 23 it received a limited notice to proceed on a waste-to-energy project in the European market.
The renewable energy division of Babcock & Wilcox (B&W), which has its headquarters in Ohio, said it can start moving forward on a $24mn contract with an undisclosed European customer.
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B&W Renewable said it was working on technology that includes boilers and other combustion equipment to turn municipal waste into electricity. Apart from sourcing energy from waste, the company said the technology abates methane emissions that would otherwise come out of landfills.
“By diverting municipal waste from landfills, we reduce the associated environmental impacts caused by burying trash – including water pollution, odors and emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane, which is produced when biological waste decomposes,” B&W COO Jimmy Morgan said. “Waste-to-energy is also fully complementary to recycling programs, beneficially using waste that otherwise couldn’t be recycled.”
Members of the European Union are taking the initiative on emerging waste-to-energy technology. Spanish utility Naturgy said in early June that it became the first company to inject renewable landfill gas into Spain's distribution system, hailing the development as a "turning point" in the country's energy transition.
The company has a renewable gas plant at Parc de l’Alba in Cerdanyola del Valles in Barcelona near the Elena landfill that can produce 12 GWh/year of biomethane, Naturgy said. This is enough to meet the gas needs of 3,200 households, the company said, and will avoid 2,400 metric tons of annual CO2 emissions.
B&W started to expand its presence in the European market last year.