Request for information on construction for the North London Heat and Power Project

Thank you for your request for information received on 6 May 2024. Your request is being considered under the Environmental Information Regulations (EiR) 2004. (Our internal reference number is 2024-229.)  

You requested information to be provided regarding the progress on the Energy Recovery Facility being built at Edmonton EcoPark on the following areas: 

• ‘the reasons behind this lack of progress’ 
• ‘an estimation of the time delay and updated timeline’ 
• ‘updated forecasted costs and the new forecasted costs for the whole project’ 
• ‘knock on effects on the district heating scheme’ 
• ‘to see how the councils are being kept appraised of delays and increased costs, and the additional cost to each individual council of the NLWA’ 

North London Waste Authority (NLWA) continuously monitors and reports construction progress and cost performance for the North London Heat and Power Project and spend to date. These reports are publicly available and are presented at the Authority meetings held in public.  

The most recent report of the North London Heat and Power Project outlined the most recent progress in the Authority meeting held on 25 April 2024. The report includes sections on Cost and Risk Performance and on progress in construction of the Energy Recovery Facility. The 8 February Budget and Levy 2024/25 Authority Paper covers project funding in the current budget and medium-term forecasts for the north London Borough levies.  

Future information on the construction progress and costs of the North London Heat and Power Project will continue to be provided to Authority Members and Borough councils through the formal public Authority meetings held regularly throughout the year. As with any construction project, there is ongoing dialogue between the client and the contractor. The regular reporting cycle ensures that comprehensive information is made available on a regular basis.  Papers for Authority meetings will be publicly available on the North London Waste Authority website. It is anticipated that the next report will issue in the agenda pack for a planned Authority meeting on 30 July. 

Information can also be found on the North London Heat and Power Project website where video’s showing the construction progress for each element of the site is regularly posted. The latest of these Construction Update Videos was posted on 8 May 2024 including the progress made on the Energy Recovery Facility, and can be viewed online. 

The provision of district heating to residents is not impacted by the progress made on the Energy Recovery Facility as the network being built by Energetik has been designed to operate independently with heat generated by various fuels, until it can connect to the new Energy Recovery Facility in the future. This is more efficient than homes having separate boilers. The connection of the network to the energy recovery facility will enable a further improvement in environmental performance. The construction contractor has an obligation to achieve this as soon as practicable. The overall arrangements for constructing the energy recovery facility and the obligations of the contractor, Acciona Industrial SA to NLWA were summarised in a report to the December 2021 Authority meeting. Those remain in place. 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you may ask for an internal review, which should be submitted within two months of when you received our response to either informationrequests@nlwa.gov.uk or our enquiry form quoting the above reference. 

If you are not content with the outcome of the review, you may complain to the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, or via their online portal. The Information Commissioner will not usually accept complaints before a review has been completed.