JOINT VENTURE PARTNER TO DESIGN, BUILD AND OPERATE A DRY ANAEROBIC DIGESTION FACILITY - PIN

This is an invitation to ascertain if there are interested parties in delivering the following: Following a cabinet decision on 29 September 2015 Cheshire East Council wishes to engage with companies and providers in the Dry Anaerobic Digestion market. The Council would like to consult companies with relevant operational expertise in order to inform its requirements for a Joint Venture Partner to design, build and operate a Dry Anaerobic Digestion Facility.

It is also interested to understand how such facilities might be financed in light of the changing tariff levels the government is currently consulting on. The purpose of the joint venture,which will have an intended duration of 27 years, is to seek commercial benefit to the joint venture partners by delivering a Dry Anaerobic digestion facility in Cheshire East as part of a waste solution and in doing so maximise the realisation of the council’s energy vision by producing renewable and decentralised energy.

The proposed Dry AD plant will be fed through the Council collections of comingled household garden and food waste providing a secure waste stream to operate the plant. Additional food waste may be sourced to provide a commercial income to the plant.

Cheshire East Council invites expressions of interest in the development of a Dry Anaerobic Digestion Facility. Information received during this process will be used to inform potential future solutions for the authority and any procurement requirements.

The closing date for expressions of interest is 12 noon on Monday 7 December 2015. Any solution must be able to deliver the strategic and operational objectives of Cheshire East Council.The Council has undertaken feasibility work which identified dry anaerobic digestion as a suitable technology to treat comingled green and food waste.

The creation of a dry anaerobic digestion operation in Cheshire East provides an opportunity for the Council to begin food waste recycling through a comingled collection of food and garden waste. It supports the Council’s waste strategy which seeks to make recycling as simple as possible for residents in a three wheeled bin collection system.

The project also complements the Council’s ambitious and innovative energy agenda. The Council’s preferred solution is Dry Anaerobic Digestion however the Council would consider commercially viable alternative solutions from our initial industry engagement. The capital value is estimated to be in the region of £16million depending on the scale of any proposed plant.