Bombardier Aerospace has received the green light to develop a new £85 million Energy from Waste plant in east Belfast.The construction phase of the gasification plant close to Bombardier's wing facility in the Belfast Harbour Estate is likely to generate up to 130 jobs in the short term.

It is anticipated that the new plant, which will convert waste generated from Bombardier’s operations into electricity and heat, will create 20 full-time jobs once it is up and running.

The plant, which will convert 120,000 tonnes of refuse-derived fuel and industrial waste each year, is likely to be operational within 18 months. Because it will be of such a large scale, the North’s Minister of the Environment had the final say on whether to approve Bombardier’s application. There were no letters of objection.

Mark Durkan said his decision to grant permission for the plant was good news for Bombardier’s 6,000-strong local workforce.

“The new plant will help Bombardier to reduce electricity costs, maintain its competitiveness within international markets and safeguard employment. While I am keen to increase the amount of waste which is recycled, there is still a need for facilities to deal with waste that is not recyclable.”

The new plant will employ a gasification process which heats the waste to produce a synthetic gas fuel, which in turn is used to produce steam which creates electricity.

Mr Durkan said his ministerial objective was to “build a better environment and a stronger economy”. Last November he granted planning permission for Bombardier to develop a combined heat and power engine unit at its facility in Newtownabbey.

The 500kw biogas-powered unit will have the capacity to produce 500kw of electricity.