Northacre Renewable Energy hopes its £200 million energy from waste incinerator in Westbury will be operational by 2028.

The joint venture company made the announcement after being taken over by Qair, a European independent renewable energy company, which has successfully acquired a majority 90 per cent stake in NREL from Evero Energy Group Ltd.

The company expects the Westbury plant to produce its first megawatt-hours of electricity in 2028 and is already engaged in serious discussions with a major Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractor.

NREL plans to use moving grate technology for the incinerator and was granted an operational environmental permit from the Environment Agency in June 2022.

Additionally, it received planning permission from the Planning Inspectorate in February 2023 following a nine-day public inquiry.

In a statement, Qair said: “Qair intends to provide an outlet for 243,000 tons per year non-recyclable residual fraction of the waste by completing the development of the EfW project which will simultaneously supply up to 24 megawatts (MW) of sustainable base load electricity in the near future.”

As a minority shareholder of NREL, the Swindon-based Hills Group, through its core activity focused on waste management in Wiltshire, will play a key role in supplying waste to the facility.

Ed Dodd, deputy chief executive of The Hills Group, said: “The facility represents a major investment in Wiltshire’s energy infrastructure, generating secure, low-carbon energy and will provide employment both during construction and operation.

“It will create a sustainable, long-term solution for commercial business waste and municipal waste arising in Wiltshire and the surrounding region – which is currently destined for disposal in landfill or export to Europe.

“The electricity generated will boost the local grid supply network helping to unlock further development opportunities in locally designated employment zones.”

Louis Blanchard, chief executive officer of Qair, said: “We are pleased to partner with Hills and recognize a significant opportunity to enhance our baseload power capacity.

“Qair looks forward to working closely with Hills and to start building this new asset, which will bring value to the Wiltshire area and create synergies with our CHER project in Horsham.”

Meanwhile, South West Wiltshire MP Andrew Murrison has written a letter to the new Environment Secretary, Steve Reed, urging him to match the Conservatives’ manifesto commitment to prevent new waste incinerators from being built.

Mr Murrison wants Mr Reed to ban building of new energy from waste incinerators like the one in Westbury, including those with recent permit approvals and revoking those where substantial construction has not taken place.

He told Environment Secretary the waste burner planned for Westbury is hugely unpopular because it will produce air pollution, reduce recycling, and violate the local Air Quality Management Area. 

He also called on Mr Reed to extend to England the moratorium on new incinerators already in place across Scotland and Wales.  

Dr Murrison said: “Let's see if the new government is prepared to put a stop to new incinerators as my party committed to doing in its manifesto and as Scotland has already done.” 

NREL wants to build the incinerator next to The Hills Group’s Northacre Resource Recovery Centre in Stephenson Road, Westbury.

Dr Murrison, several local town and parish councils, and more than 2,000 Westbury residents strongly opposed the waste incinerator being built.

Wiltshire Council’s strategic planning committee rejected the scheme by 8-1 in June 2022 but NREL appealed its decision and the planning application went to a public inquiry.

The council said the development would generate substantial net carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over its lifetime and thereby failed to assist in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.