In the UK, global resource management company Veolia has announced that it has passed a new milestone for delivering net zero power by delivering more than six times the renewable electricity to the grid than it uses across its 400 offices, facilities, and sites across the UK.
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By generating 856 GWh of electricity in 2022 using a combination of biomass, landfill gas, biogas, and Energy Recovery Facilities (ERF), that qualify under the Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO) scheme, the company is able to supply a secure annual equivalent to power 240 000 homes.
This exported electricity adds to the 2.5 TWh of combined heat and power (CHP), low carbon, and a renewable generation that serves around 500 customer sites spanning the industrial, healthcare, water, leisure, district heating, education, and retail sectors.
This output includes 134 MWe of generation capacity using biogas, biomass, and solar sources which save around 200 000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions each year for Veolia’s customers.
Energy market volatility, and the ability to deliver stable power has highlighted the importance of reliable sources of energy that can support our modern lives and the UK power infrastructure. By actively developing renewable and low-carbon generation we can already produce the affordable and sustainable energy that is essential to support communities and businesses, said Gavin Graveson, SEVP Northern Europe Zone at Veolia.
An added benefit of this electricity is the cogeneration of green heat with some of the plants supplying communities and businesses using district heating networks. These deliver around 2 GWh of heat equivalent to the heating needed for 120,000 homes.
As an estimated 20 percent of the nation’s carbon emissions are generated by domestic heating, due to a low standard of energy efficiency, using district heating from these sources lowers carbon emissions and can help reduce cost, and fuel poverty, in vulnerable groups.
As more baseload generators such as nuclear, coal, and CCGTs retire, stable renewable sources are set to play an increasingly important role as demand increases with population growth, adoption of electric vehicles, electricity to heat homes, and increased demand of the rapidly expanding internet of things. We are already demonstrating what can be achieved today to secure sustainable independent power for the UK, but to accelerate this development the UK now needs to act on the incentives for investment in decarbonization, and realize the net-zero future for power, Gavin Graveson said.
In becoming the benchmark company for ecological transformation, Veolia is committed to tackling climate change, resource depletion, biodiversity collapse, and pollution.
By expanding the use of existing and new innovative solutions, the company is accelerating the process to radically change patterns of production and consumption and “placing ecology at the heart of every process.”
This includes maximizing the value of resources to effectively ensure a secure supply of energy and easing resource scarcity challenges.
