About us

The Protos Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) is set amongst a wider development known as Protos, located near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. The Protos site is owned by Peel NRE and is a hub for energy and resource technologies. It brings together a range of low carbon energy solutions for businesses and aims to provide a blueprint for the UK as it moves towards achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The Protos ERF will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 90,000 homes by processing up to 400,000 tonnes of residual waste a year. The plant will recover energy from residual waste left over after reusable and recyclable material has been removed. Municipal as well as commercial and industrial waste will be used as sources of fuel.

This facility is owned by a consortium comprising Encyclis (the new name for Covanta in the UK & Europe) and Biffa. It is one of several such projects under development and construction in the UK.

The Protos ERF is being built by an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) joint venture between MYTILINEOS and Standardkessel Baumgarte. Both companies are internationally recognised for their expertise in major infrastructure projects such as Energy from Waste.

Construction work started in December 2020 and the plant is expected to be operational in 2024. Once the Protos ERF is built, Covanta will operate and maintain the facility.

More information about the facility can be found on our FAQs page.

It is anticipated that the peak workforce during the construction phase will be around 450 and for the operational phase around 50 new permanent jobs will be created.