- Location
- Dagenham
Thames Gateway Waste to Energy Facility, Dagenham
This waste-to-energy plant is a waste management facility in Dagenham that will export 14MW to the National Grid, enough energy to power 32,000 homes. It uses the innovative RODECS process of industrial gasification, patented by international waste-to-energy specialists Chinook Sciences.
The layout of facilities on the site has been determined by combining the constraints imposed by the National Grid’s overhead power lines with the requirements of the Chinook process and the site’s available points of access.
Segregation of waste vehicles and other users of the site has, for reasons of safety, also been an important design driver.
In addition to the RODECS Hall, the layout includes a reception hall with space to contain waste on arrival and the sorting of residual waste post process. There is also space for a substation, deliveries, car parking, offices and welfare facilities.
Whilst some of the plant is located internally and all recoverable heat is reused, the nature of these processes means that there is a certain amount of waste heat that cannot be used. Rather than allowing energy to be consumed by forced air ventilation inside, the most energy efficient way of allowing the heat to dissipate is by locating the equipment outside.
The buildings are clad in metal sheet with a lighter coloured band at high level to reduce the apparent height. Feature rooftop ventilators extract excess heat from the RODECS Hall.