Amount awarded: £10,000,000
Led by: Severn Trent Water
Partners: Aarhus Vand, ACWA (Nuvoda), Anglian Water Service Limited, Aston University, Atkins Ltd, Cranfield University, Dwr Cymru Cyfyngedig (Welsh Water), Explore AI Ltd, Irish Water, Melbourne Water, Northern Ireland Water Ltd., Northumbrian Water Limited, Scottish Water, Severn Trent Plc, Siemens, South West Water Limited, Southern Water Services Limited, SPRING, SUEZ Advanced Solutions UK, Thames Water Utilities Limited, United Utilities Water Limited, Wessex Water Limited, Xylem, Yorkshire Water Services Limited
See project updates on the Net Zero Hub website.
This ground-breaking project, universally supported by UK and Irish water companies plus international support from Aarhus Vand and Melbourne Water will transform a large, carbon intensive Wastewater Treatment Plant into the world’s first retro-fit carbon neutral site. Innovative suppliers are developing technologies to reduce, remove and avoid carbon. Our plan is to integrate the most promising technologies on one site for the first time – creating the ‘Net-Zero hub’ – trialing them at scale to deliver a blueprint for water companies to retro-fit their wastewater treatment plants to achieve their stretching 2030 Net-Zero commitments. This bid covers the most innovative technology to target our biggest emissions.
“Combatting the climate emergency to protect generations to come is a challenge that requires everyone to reinvent ways of working. This commitment to create the world’s first carbon neutral hub has the possibility of changing the face of wastewater treatment worldwide. The impact of this cannot be underestimated given emissions from wastewater are 80% of our operational emissions, and the hub will solve that.
“Coming together to share ideas and collaborating to combat climate change is key, that’s why we’re committed to sharing our carbon neutral hub’s blueprint with all other water companies, so wastewater treatment plants around the world can be retrofitted with these new technologies that we’re rolling out at scale.
“Bringing this innovation to Staffordshire will also bring jobs and green skills, as there are even more novel technologies in the pipeline that will be tested and refined here in years to come, thanks to the investment and support from all of our partners including Ofwat’s Innovation Fund.” – Liv Garfield, CEO, Severn Trent
Actilayer: Construction has continued at pace throughout the last quarter, with steel structures now erected on ASP6, and lifting complete; work will commence on retrofitting Actilayer to the Liquor Treatment Plant and making the existing structure airtight. Commissioning activities are in progress across all ASP lanes, as per the planned sequence. The impact of the Actilayer will be measured through the emissions monitoring plan, and substantial work has been undertaken in since the last submittal on validating the sampling method for performance appraisal. UV efficacy testing will continue through this quarter. Training and handover discussions for operational teams is underway, as well as the development of the design manual for the retrofitting of these technologies.
Digital Twin: Good progress is made on the wireframe design, modelling building, and data architecture. Simulation and optimisation strategy is under review and will be confirmed this quarter.
For more information on Net Zero Hub, take a look at the following resources:
