Viridor and data centres powered by energy from waste

Electricity from Viridor's energy-from-waste plants in the United Kingdom used to go to the grid. The 10 June 2026 announcement changes the destination: Viridor and Rivington Energy will develop up to 200 MW of data centres across four sites, and the first, 40 MW at Avonmouth, Bristol, has been submitted to Bristol City Council and only operates in 2027 if consented.

Beyond consent, there is an open regulatory deadline the announcement does not mention: the carbon cost of that power. On 26 August 2026 DESNZ updated the consultation UK Emissions Trading Scheme scope expansion: waste and confirmed that including waste incineration in the UK ETS will not take place in 2028 as originally intended, and that a new timeline will be set out later.

A data centre power contract is long. The obligation to surrender allowances per tonne of fossil CO2 has no date. Pricing waste-derived power without an ETS timeline leaves that cost open to renegotiation between generator and customer.

The competitiveness of this power is decided by the date on which waste starts paying for carbon in the UK, and that date remains undefined.