Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Existing waste-fired CHP plants will increase their electricity production and the total number
of waste-fired CHP plants will double over the same period. The reason for the increase in
electricity production at waste fired CHP plants is not clarified, but it is reasonable to believe
that it is a result of the higher electricity prices anticipated when Swedish electricity prices are
harmonized with those in continental Europe; this is further explained in the section on
Impact on Waste Incineration of Trade in Electricity. The proposed tax on incinerated waste,
which is designed to promote CHP production, is probably also a factor. In the municipalities
that have a waste incineration plant, the plant is the base supplier of heat to the DH network,
due to the negative operational cost of receiving the waste. This can remove the heat sink for
more efficient plants and shorten their annual operational times. How to use the heat sink can
in this perspective be seen as a conflict between waste management and the energy system. If
waste incineration is chosen as the treatment method, it is vital to recover as much as possible
of the energy content of the waste. This heat can occupy much of the heat sink leading to
lower electricity production in the DH system, compared to if a plant with higher electrical
efficiency were chosen instead of a waste incineration plant. Earlier studies have shown that
this can be the case, e.g. for a municipal system (Holmgren and Bartlett, 2004) and an overall
study of the DH systems in Sweden (Sahlin et al, 2004). This can of course vary between
systems as shown by Holmgren (2006). This study deals with the ”competition” in the DH
system in the city of Göteborg, where there is heat from waste incineration, waste heat from
industries, and also investment in a natural gas fired CHP plant. There is room in the system
for all types of waste heat; the new CHP plant mostly replaces heat boilers in the system.
Waste and Connection to the Material Market
Waste management is connected to the material markets through the material recovery
systems. However, the development of the material recovery system is highly dependent on
political decision, such as the introduction of the concept of Producer Responsibility. The
incentive to material recovery of municipal waste comes mainly from the Ordinance on
Producer Responsibility, which includes packaging, cars, car tyres, newspapers, and electric
and electronic devices (e.g. Ministry of the Environment, 1994; 1997). For the included
fractions, levels of material recycling are stated. Packaging producers have set up companies
to handle the collection of packaging. The companies have a deficit in financing this system,
which the producers pay. This is different to newspapers, for example, which do not show this
deficit in collection; a functioning market existed even before the legislation was introduced.
Also, in industry, different metal fractions such as copper and steel have had a functioning
market for recycling for a long time - half of the raw material used to produce steel comes
from collected scrap.
8
The prices of materials naturally influence the attractiveness of
material recovery.
8
Personal communication with Åsa Ekdahl, European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries, 2003.
