2009-03-23 04:17:00 | Inauguration of new waste-to-energy plant

2009-03-23 | Inauguration of new waste-to-energy plant

Paris, March 23, 2009. The new Antibes waste-to-energy plant was inaugurated today in the presence of Jean Leonetti, Member of the French Parliament, Mayor of Antibes, and Chairman of CASA, the Sophia Antipolis joint district authority; Josette Balden, Chairperson of the Sidom, the area waste authority; Henri Proglio, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Veolia Environnement; and Claude Serra, Subprefect for the Alpes-Maritimes département.

The plant, where operations began in 1970, has been entirely renovated under a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Sidom and Veolia Environmental Services. The renovation has resulted in a modern, sustainable and environment-friendly solution that will treat the household waste of 260,000 people living in 20 communities in the west of the Alpes Maritimes département.
 
Valomed, a subsidiary of Veolia Environmental Services, will operate the new plant for
20 years. The investments needed for the upgrade amount to €56 million.

“Waste can constitute an alternative energy source. In a world where resources are becoming increasingly scarce, waste recovery is an efficient, innovative solution that respects the environment,” said Henri Proglio, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Veolia Environnement.

Josette Balden, Chairperson of the Sidom, said: “We were confronted with the worrying situation of how to deal with the quantities of waste generated in the Alpes-Maritimes département. We decided to put together a really sound project to develop a forward-looking solution that meets our stringent requirements in terms of performance, cost, energy recovery and environmental quality, and that will also meet our constituents’ needs for well-being and good health.”

Part of the work carried out involved installing catalytic systems to treat nitrogen oxides (NOx). The NOx reduction process goes beyond what is required by standards, with emissions limited to only 80 mg/Nm3 whereas regulations impose a limit of 200 mg/Nm3. The process also enables dioxin emissions to be only half that imposed by standards.

The other part of the works was to install an energy recovery system to convert the thermal energy produced by waste combustion into electricity by means of two boilers and a 10 MW turbo-alternator set. The electricity produced will cover all of the plant’s needs and the surplus will be sent to the national grid. Of the 75,000 MWh of electricity produced every year, 60,000 will be sold to EDF, enough to cover the annual consumption of 10,000 households. The energy efficiency of the equipment and the sale of electricity will ensure costs are kept under control for the taxpayer.

The entire upgrade was carried out without totally shutting down operations at the plant, which treats 148,000 metric tons of waste per year.


Veolia Environmental Services
With close to 100,000 employees in 40 different countries, Veolia Environmental Services is the global industry benchmark for waste management, recovery and recycling.
As the only operator offering the entire range of services for solid, liquid, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, Veolia Environmental Services contributes to improving the environment by bringing its public authority and industrial clients innovative, effective solutions in waste management (waste collection, pipe systems maintenance, cleaning, waste treatment and resource recovery). Veolia Environmental Services generated revenue of €10.1 billion in 2008. www.veolia-proprete.com

Veolia Environnement
Veolia Environnement (Paris Euronext: VIE and NYSE: VE) is the worldwide reference in environmental services. With more than 330,000 employees the company has operations all around the world and provides tailored solutions to meet the needs of municipal and industrial customers in four complementary segments: water management, waste management, energy management and freight and passenger transportation. Veolia Environnement recorded revenue of €36,2 billion in 2008. www.veolia.com

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