Lockheed Martin has signed a teaming agreement with CoGen Limited to develop waste-to-energy projects in the United Kingdom, starting with a new plant in Cardiff, Wales.

The Cardiff facility will convert waste into up to 15 MW of energy, enough to power about 15,000 homes and businesses in the local area. To generate energy, the plant will process approximately 150,000 tons of waste per year, significantly reducing the need for landfill use. Construction is expected to begin in 2018, with operations starting in 2020.

CoGen will serve as the owner and developer of the Cardiff project and Lockheed Martin will lead the engineering, procurement, manufacturing and construction of the plant. The facility will use Concord Blue’s Reformer technology, which converts waste to energy through a process called advanced gasification. The technology can convert nearly any kind of organic waste into clean, sustainable energy.

In addition to the Wales project, Lockheed Martin and CoGen will jointly pursue other similar projects, and smaller-scale opportunities to develop waste-to-energy projects for commercial and industrial businesses throughout the U.K.

Based in England, CoGen is a leading advanced gasification waste-to-enery company within the U.K. The company develops, constructs, manages, owns and executes advanced gasification plants throughout the U.K., with five projects either generating energy or under construction, and six additional projects in planning.

Lockheed Martin Energy is a line of business within Lockheed Martin that delivers comprehensive solutions across the energy industry to include demand-response solutions, energy efficiency, energy storage, nuclear systems, tidal energy technologies and bioenergy generation.

Frank Armijo, vice president of Lockheed Martin Energy.

“This project will make a substantial contribution to Cardiff and will further showcase how bioenergy technologies can help reduce waste, decrease pollution and generate clean, renewable energy. We’re excited to team with CoGen, and we’re looking forward to other projects where we can help businesses, manufacturers and U.K. municipal and regional governments address their critical waste and energy challenges.”

Ian Brooking, chief executive officer of CoGen Limited, said:

“CoGen is excited to be forming this partnership with Lockheed Martin and bringing the Concord Blue Reformer® technology to the U.K. Cardiff will be the first of a pipeline of projects that over the coming decade will see local, smaller-scale generation play a bigger part in delivering the U.K.’s energy requirements.”