Yorkshire Water’s £18 million upgrade at Dewsbury sewage works nears completion

Contract partners MS2JV have been working to upgrade the facility and continue to deliver on Yorkshire Water’s commitment to renewable energy.

The scheme started in December 2015 and involves replacing and refurbishing most of the supporting assets around the anaerobic digesters. Anaerobic digestion is a ground-breaking process which converts waste into biogas that can be used to generate heat and electricity.

This renewable energy is then used to power the treatment works, helping to lower Yorkshire Water’s carbon footprint. Yorkshire Water is due to start commissioning the digesters in May and hope to process sludge and generate electricity by July 2020.

Ed Sutherland, Solution Engineer at Yorkshire Water said: “This upgrade in Dewsbury will help unlock the full potential of the plant to treat local and regional sludges, whilst generating biogas and electricity for years to come.

“Making sure we deliver high quality drinking water and return clean wastewater to the environment is an energy intensive job which results in substantial amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. This is why we are working hard to reduce our carbon footprint and deliver energy efficiencies as part of our pledge to become net zero carbon by 2030.”