Covanta Energy provides update on construction of Energy From Waste facility in Clarington
Posted by news | Filed under All News Stories, Business, Durham
The company contracted to build and operate the Energy From Waste facility in Clarington, Covanta Energy, is working towards being open and transparent with the community. A tour of the construction site was held Wednesday and officials say work is about 15 percent complete and they’re on schedule for a late 2014 opening. Once up and running, the facility will incinerate up to 140,000 tonnes of post recycled waste per year, and generate enough electricity to power between 12,000 and 14,000 homes. That power will be sold back to the grid and there’s also the potential to sell steam for heating purposes to other tenants of the Clarington Energy Park. Officials say this will be the most state-of-the-art facility of its kind in North America and Resident Construction Manager Jim Delaney says all water, other than sewage, will be re-used within the plant and once complete, you could stand beside the building, and not smell any garbage as it will operate in a negative pressure air environment. Covanta is also exploring ways that the left-over ash can be used so as to further limit the impact on landfills. Durham Region put some of the most stringent environmental protection rules in place, during the planning process and company officials say both construction and operations, will be subject to internal and third party audits to ensure those requirements are being met or exceeded. Durham has set a target of a 70 percent waste diversion rate by 2020. The $260-million project will create close to 700 jobs during construction and roughly 40, good paying full time jobs once it’s complete. For more information on the project, click here.
