Mega incinerator turning landfill into electricity ready to burn from 2027
Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant (LSEP), in Lostock Gralam, is set to burn around 600,000 tonnes of landfill annually, and there is an application in place to allow it to accept ar
By Chester Standard
One of Cheshire’s biggest energy-from-waste projects is moving closer to operation near Northwich, with the Lostock plant expected to process hundreds of thousands of tonnes of residual waste a year.
A major energy-from-waste plant near Northwich is moving closer to operation, with the facility expected to process up to 600,000 tonnes of residual waste a year.
The Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant is being built at the Lostock Works site in Lostock Gralam.
Once operational, it will use residual waste — the material left after recyclable items have been removed — to generate electricity for the grid.
The project is being developed by Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant Ltd, a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and FCC Environment.
The plant’s operators say the facility will export 69.9MW of electricity and generate enough power for around 125,000 homes.
They also say it will divert up to 600,000 tonnes of waste a year from landfill or export overseas.
The site is one of the largest energy-from-waste projects in the UK and has been under construction for several years.
Energy-from-waste facilities work by burning non-recyclable waste at high temperatures. The heat is used to produce steam, which then drives turbines to generate electricity.
Supporters argue that plants like Lostock provide a practical alternative to landfill for waste that cannot be reused or recycled.
They also say the technology can provide reliable electricity while reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill.
The Lostock project is expected to create around 50 operational jobs once running, following hundreds of jobs during the construction phase.
The plant is also being built on land linked to Tata Chemicals Europe, with earlier project documents saying the development could support wider infrastructure at the Lostock site.
However, large energy-from-waste schemes often attract questions from nearby residents and environmental campaigners.
Concerns usually focus on traffic, emissions, air quality, carbon impact and whether burning waste could discourage recycling.
A previous application sought permission to increase the plant’s annual waste throughput from 600,000 tonnes to 728,000 tonnes.
That would have meant an increase of 128,000 tonnes a year, or just over 20%.
The same variation application also sought changes linked to HGV movements and waste delivery hours.
Cheshire West and Chester Council previously raised concerns about the proposed increase, highlighting the impact of higher waste volumes, more HGV movements and extended delivery hours.
The variation application was later refused by the Secretary of State in December 2022.
The plant’s own planning page says the company has continued construction under its existing consent and had no immediate plans to bring forward a second application.
For residents in Lostock Gralam, Northwich and nearby villages, the main practical issues are likely to be how the plant operates, how waste is transported to the site and how emissions are monitored once it begins running.
The project is also part of a wider debate about how Cheshire and the UK deal with waste that cannot currently be recycled.
The key question is whether energy-from-waste plants provide a necessary alternative to landfill, or whether they risk locking the country into burning material that could eventually be reduced, reused or recycled.
For now, Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant remains one of the most significant infrastructure schemes in the Northwich area, with its full impact likely to become clearer once operations begin.