Doubt over key plans for Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station site after shareholder pulls out

Joe Locker
·3-min read
The cooling towers at the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station site
-Credit: (Image: Joseph Raynor/Reach PLC)


The energy firm behind plans for a new waste incinerator on the site of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station says it is “looking at alternative options for the future” after one of its former shareholders decided not to proceed. Nottinghamshire County Council ’s planning committee green-lit Uniper’s plans for a new energy-from-waste incinerator in 2021.

In March the following year then-Secretary of State Michael Gove gave the scheme the final approval despite concerns from environmental campaigners at the time. It was said the East Midlands Energy Re-Generation (EMERGE) centre would burn almost 500,000 tonnes of waste a year, reduce landfill, and generate enough energy to power 90,000 homes.

It was to operate in the same way as Nottingham’s Eastcroft incinerator, which burns waste to produce energy for 5,000 homes and more than 100 businesses in the city via the district heating network. However the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has now been informed one of Uniper’s former shareholders, the Finnish state-owned Fortum, will not be proceeding after disposing of its shares in the company.

Fortum sold its shares in 2022, and Uniper is now almost entirely owned by the German government. A Uniper spokesperson said: “Uniper gained planning permission for EMERGE in 2022, and now that Fortum have taken a decision not to proceed, we are looking at alternative options for the future. The area of the site earmarked for EMERGE, also falls under the Ratcliffe LDO.”

The LDRS approached Uniper for clarity after concerns over the certainty of the plans were voiced at a Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Joint Committee on Mineral and Waste Planning on Friday (November 8). Planning permission for the scheme is due to lapse in March 2025.

Nottingham City Meadows ward Cllr Michael Edwards (Lab) said: “What is striking is that some of the national arguments that have been made for incineration have changed. It is intriguing. There has been a huge growth in incineration across the country… but to what extent does it change our situation? I don’t know if it has changed the prospects of an incinerator at Ratcliffe, if you’ve got any advice on that?”

David Arnold, head of planning and environment at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “You are absolutely right. There are changing circumstances at the moment and I think waste-to-energy is being questioned on a number of levels financially and environmentally.

“There is planning permission at Ratcliffe and that has not been implemented yet. We don’t know whether that will be implemented.

“They have got until March next year and that is with Uniper. It is on their land and because of these circumstances it may mean they change their minds, I don’t know, but it is a permission that hasn’t been implemented yet.

“A waste-to-energy plant in Derbyshire, Swadlincote, was refused on a need basis. It is economic changes that are creating and challenging whether there is a need for waste-to-energy.

“The waste industry is constantly changing all the time through policies. New technology is coming in to manage waste more efficiently, effectively and environmentally, and people’s behaviours are changing so they are not producing as much waste.”

Over a decade ago the Government put taxes up for councils putting waste in landfill due to concerns over the impact on the environment, and in response local authorities started utilising incinerators to avoid the costs.

However, a recent BBC investigation has now found these incinerators are the dirtiest way the UK produces energy following the abandonment of coal. Cllr Edwards added the recent reports have created further uncertainty around any future expansion of the Eastcroft incinerator in Nottingham.

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