Waste-to-Energy Plants Could Slash UK Grid Connection Times

Key Takeaways

• WtE private wire links could connect UK sites and data centres in 2–4 years vs 7–12 for standard grid connections.
• Over 500MW available to industrial users, mainly food & drink, chemicals and paper firms.
• Over half of UK data centres sit within 10km of a WtE plant (~350MW capacity).
• 17 of 75 EfW plants could fully use export capacity; Wilton, Edmonton and Earls Gate already supply users via private wire.
• UK EfW supplies 1.7GW baseload power; CCS at priority sites would cut 2035 potential by 25%.

Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plants could give UK industrial users and data centres direct access to electricity within two to four years, compared with the seven to twelve years typically required for a standard grid connection. That is the central finding of new research commissioned by Resource Recovery UK (RRUK) and carried out by the sustainability consultancy ERM.

The report, which is available to WtE Monitor, examines the potential of ‘private wire’ connections: direct physical electricity links between a Waste-to-Energy plant and a nearby user, typically agreed through long-term bilateral contracts similar to a power purchase agreement. According to the analysis, more than 500 megawatts (MW) of power could be supplied to industrial users in areas facing grid constraints, particularly in the food and drink, chemicals and paper manufacturing sectors. Chemicals and paper manufacturers show the strongest overlap with WtE locations, both in current electricity demand and projected growth, while heavier industries such as steel and cement have comparatively limited demand nearby.

The findings are based on geographic mapping that compared the location of the UK’s 75 WtE plants – both operational and in development – with 719 industrial sites and 4,541 electricity substations across the country. The analysis used straight-line distances rather than accounting for terrain or the complexity of individual routes, and considered only each site’s nearest connection option.

Data Centres Within Reach Of Waste-to-Energy Plants

More than half of existing UK data centres are located within ten kilometres of a WtE plant, equivalent to around 350 MW of capacity. Clusters of this kind exist in London and other major cities including Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Nottingham. The report notes a stronger longer-term opportunity in this area, as data centre roll-out is expected to follow existing locational patterns and grow nearly four-fold by 2030.

The wider context is a UK electricity system under increasing strain. National demand is projected to grow by around 150 per cent by 2050, and up to 40 per cent of substations are projected to be capacity-constrained by that point. Industrial electrification and the expansion of data centres are adding to that pressure, with long connection lead times beginning to influence investment decisions.

Industry Reaction

Mike Maudsley, Chair of RRUK and CEO of Enfinium, said: “Energy-from-Waste already generates reliable energy as a by-product of managing the UK’s non-recyclable waste. Private wire connections present a huge opportunity to go further: responding to the surge in demand for connections from data centres and other industries. EfW facilities can help local businesses get connected much faster, providing reliable power and long-term price certainty, and, crucially, making the most of existing infrastructure that’s already in place.”

Silvian Baltac, Lead Partner at ERM, said: “The challenge of securing reliable power is now a critical issue for many industrial businesses and data centre developers. We increasingly see projects delayed not by a lack of demand, but by the availability and timing of grid connections. This analysis highlights a significant opportunity for the UK’s EfW sector to help bridge that gap. Faster private wire connections can support investment, accelerate industrial electrification and reduce emissions, as well as help unlock growth in some of the country’s most grid-constrained regions.”

Partnerships Already Under Way

Andrew Newman, Executive Director at Rivington Energy, Viridor’s partner in developing AI-ready data centres across its EfW sites, said: “This report highlights the opportunity to use existing energy infrastructure to accelerate the UK’s digital growth. Our partnership with Viridor shows how that can work in practice, combining reliable local power with next-generation data centre expertise. As demand for AI infrastructure grows, this is a practical way to bring new capacity online faster.”

The UK’s EfW plants currently supply around 1.7 gigawatts (GW) of baseload power to the electricity market. The report also examined the effect of carbon capture and storage (CCS) on this potential: deploying CCS at priority EfW sites would reduce the 2035 private wire synergy potential by 25 per cent, but would enable the delivery of low-carbon electricity or carbon removal credits.

Of the UK’s 75 EfW plants, 17 were found to have enough nearby industrial demand to fully use their export capacity, and a further 22 have partial potential; the remaining 36 have no industrial demand within reach. Separately, 26 EfW sites lie within ten kilometres of industrial sites expected to face grid constraints by 2050; these could supply more than 400 MW to 87 industrial sites by 2035, rising to nearly 600 MW if CCS is not deployed at priority sites.

Examples Already in Operation

The report cites three UK sites where EfW plants already supply power directly to industrial or data centre users via private wire. At Wilton International in Teesside, a WtE plant forms part of a wider multi-fuel private wire network supplying chemicals and materials processing companies. At Edmonton EcoPark in London, a WtE plant supplies Ark Data Centres’ Meridian Park facility under a long-term power purchase agreement signed in 2019. At the Earls Gate Energy Centre in Grangemouth, Scotland, operational since 2024, a Waste-to-Energy plant supplies electricity and steam directly to the industrial operator CalaChem.

More than half of the industrial export opportunity identified in the report falls within the government’s Industrial Strategy Zones, which the report’s authors say points to a role for WtE plants in supporting electrification in UK industrial regions.

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