United States
Australia
Generation projects: Energy Recovery Facilities and Landfill Gas
Capacity: 190MW
Location: 40+ sites across the UK
Product/Participation: Energy Trading Services Agreement (ETSA)
Customer since: 2002
“We’re very happy to be extending our partnership with SmartestEnergy. Since our first contract in 2002, the relationship has grown and developed in tandem with the size of our portfolio and the complexities of an ever changing and dynamic energy market We’re confident that the bespoke deal we’ve now agreed represents one of the best offtake contracts in the market and we look forward to continuing working with Smartest for many years to come.”
Mark Knights, Director, Power Portfolio Management
The opportunity:
Viridor’s is one of the largest recycling and waste management business in the UK. Having expanded it’s portfolio of Energy Recovery Facilities and landfill disposal sites over the past 20 years, Viridor has now developed into a sizeable renewable energy generator.
The company is also one of the UK’s leading operators of sites handling municipal, commercial and industrial wastes with the largest recycling capacity in the UK and still has a consented landfill capacity of more than 70 million cubic metres.
Recovering gas from sites not only ensures their continued safety after landfill operations have finished but also provides a long-term income from energy generation. Landfill sites can generate commercial quantities of gas for up to 30 years after waste has been deposited.
The results:
SmartestEnergy has worked closely with Viridor since 2002 to develop innovative and flexible solutions as its portfolio has grown and its requirements have changed.
In addition to agreements covering the purchase of energy and ROCs, SmartestEnergy’s role has extended to areas such as helping with connections to the local distribution network for new sites.
The current deal builds on Viridor’s existing bespoke ETSA framework product by adding a rolling 5-year hedging horizon and access to N2EX price dependent orders.
Future Outlook
In addition to its landfill gas sites, Viridor is significantly expanding its portfolio of energy from waste plants. SmartestEnergy will continue to adapt our partnership to meet the changing needs of Viridor’s generation plants, ensuring that the renewable projects involved can maximise their returns obtainable through access to wholesale markets.