Frequently Asked Questions
f.a.q.
Energy from Waste is a sustainable method of dealing with waste that would otherwise go to landfill. Rather than burying waste, we are treating it as a resource that can be used to create heat and power.
The Levenseat Project , unlike other energy from waste plants has a front end recovery facility. Step 1 is to remove any recyclable material before preparing the left over material into a fuel.
Step2
We use the fuel as a heat source to produce a synthetic gas which is then used to raise superheated steam which drives a steam turbine to generate electrical power for export to the grid.
Our facility processes waste from both commercial and local authority customers. The waste is typically ‘black bin’ waste, waste that householders have deemed unrecyclable. However we do not take this for granted and have built a front end recovery facility to ensure recyclable material is removed prior to the fuel being produced.
Typically we can recover a further 20% from the waste and the remaining material is prepared into a specified fuel for energy recovery.
If you are interested in finding out more we recommend you watch the video on our energy from waste page
Many subcontractors will be required during the construction of the facility, ranging from canteen services to engineering and construction, office materials, transport services and many more.
The number of roles on site at any one time will vary significantly and continue to change throughout the lifetime of the project. We anticipate there will be around 200 people employed on site at the peak of construction. There will also be multiple supply chain opportunities for businesses throughout the construction phase.
In total there will be 100 permanent jobs crated. There will be 70 positions within the material recovery facility and 30 within the Power Plant.
The vacancies will be advertised through our website, local recruitment agencies and jobs fairs.
Our intention is to maximise the use of local labour where it is possible and sensible to do so. Job opportunities will be advertised locally and we will work with local agencies and other sites to publicise the vacancies.
We held a Open day in September 2016 for people to find out about construction-related job opportunities and longer term employment prospects at the facility. In November 2016 We also held two local jobs fairs in Forth and Fauldhouse to advertise vacancies and actively recruited form the local area.
In addition, some labour may also come through agencies so, whenever it is feasible, we will work with them to advertise and recruit locally.
The energy-from-waste process reduces carbon emissions in three ways:
1) Reduces landfill: Less landfill means less greenhouse gases, including methane.
2) Generates green energy: Each tonne of waste produces about 700 kilowatts-per-hour of electricity which is exported to the power grid. This means less electricity needs to be produced by fossil fuel sources like coal and gas.
3) Opportunity to recycle: Recyclates are recovered prior to fuel preparation and furthermore, following the energy recovery process, an ash is created as a by-product of the combustion process. The ash can be used in many innovative ways, including in construction.
More than 99.9 per cent of our emissions are components of normal area like steam, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
For the very small remainder of emissions, those compounds go through a sophisticated treatment processes which ensures emissions remain well below all relevant standards. To find out more, please read our community update.
The facility will use CEMS – Continuous Emissions Monitoring System – which uses probes in the chimney stack to continuously monitor the flue gas.