Information on the Scottish Energy statistics hub: EIR release

Information requested

You asked for 3 distinct requests in relation to the Scottish energy statistics hub index, asking for:

1) The amount of waste incinerated between 2010-2020 in Scottish incinerators.

2) The amount of energy exported from Scottish incinerators.

3) The CO2 emissions from Scottish incinerators.

Response

The Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested. However, I have contacted SEPA to check if they hold the requested information. If you require further information I suggest you contact SEPA directly.

Please see below the separate responses to your 3 requests:

1) Tracking for this data began in 2011, and between 2011 and 2020 7,028,629 tonnes of Waste have been incinerated in Scotland. A full breakdown of the categories of waste incinerated, and of statistics on a yearly basis since 2011 can be found here: 2020-waste-incinerated-in-scotland-release.pdf (sepa.org.uk).

2) Please see below 2021 figures for energy exported from plants. Unfortunately due to the December 2020 cyber attack on SEPA historical data is unavailable.

• Viridor Waste Dunbar – 239,088 megawatt hours of electricity exported.
• Millerhill Recycling and Energy Recovery Centre – 103,760 megawatt hours of electricity exported.
• Glasgow Recycling & Renewable Energy Centre – 37,726 megawatt hours of electricity exported.
• MVV Environment Baldovie - 31,724 megawatt hours of electricity exported.
• Levenseat – 33,983 megawatt hours of electricity exported.

The 5 plants above are all electricity only generating plants, and therefore no heat was generated.

• Lerwick Energy Recovery Plant - 42 gigawatt hours of heat exported.

Lerwick is a heat only generating plant, and therefore no electricity was generated.

3) Please see below figures for CO2 emissions from incinerators in Scotland, provided by SEPA. All figures are from 2020, except those for Levenseat, which are from 2014 and are the most recently available.

• Viridior Waste Dunbar - 35.4 kilotonnes released
• Millerhill Recycling and Energy Recovery Centre - 163.14 kilotonnes released
• Glasgow Recycling & Renewable Energy Centre - 96.21 kilotonnes released
• MVV Environment Baldovie - 97.24 kilotonnes released
• Levenseat - 11.4 kilotonnes released
• Lerwick Energy Recovery Plant - 12.56 kilotonnes released

Full detailed breakdown on the pollutants released from facilities can be found using the following tool:
Scottish Pollution Release Inventory (sepa.org.uk)

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.