ATHENS, Greece and LONDON, Aug. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — METLEN has successfully conducted the first fire on waste at the Protos Energy Recovery Facility it is developing for Encyclis in Cheshire. First fire is a major milestone which confirms that the state-of-the-art plant has now entered the final stages of hot commissioning.
Protos ERF, once fully operational, will have the capacity to process 500,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste per year, generating up to 49.9MW of baseload electricity, enough to power up to 90,000 homes.
The process supports the circular economy by recovering resources from household and commercial waste that remains after recycling (residual waste). As well as generating baseload electricity, bottom ash from the combustion process is turned into secondary aggregates for construction and ferrous and non-ferrous metals are extracted for reuse.
METLEN has been acting as a strategic turnkey partner at the project, undertaking the design and execution on behalf of Encyclis, and in partnership with Standardkessel Baumgarte GmbH. The project was the Company’s first Waste-to-Energy project and involved multiple technical challenges and complexities. The achievement of first fire on waste was made possible thanks to the established expertise of METLEN’s people, despite the time and cost challenges that arose during the execution of the project, to which the Company has already referred extensively.
The first fire on waste at this complex project confirms the benefits of bringing the former M Renewables and M Power Projects together under the single M RESET platform.
In a particularly demanding environment for the European construction and energy infrastructure sector, marked in recent years by material cost inflation, supply-chain pressures and increased challenges in delivering complex projects, METLEN reaffirms through M RESET that it is one of the few companies capable of delivering complex thermal power projects with discipline and perseverance despite adversity, earning the respect of the market.
The restructuring of M RESET and the addition of high-quality talent provide a strong foundation for continuing the Company’s long-standing track record in the sector. At the same time, before undertaking any new thermal power project, all necessary steps will have been taken to ensure delivery “on time and on budget”, as has always been the Company’s motto.
METLEN has maintained a strong presence in the UK energy market for more than a decade, with more than 90 projects completed or currently being executed, including photovoltaic parks, battery energy storage systems, grid works, as well as gas-fired peaking plants, a Synchronous Condenser facility and two HVDC converter stations at the landmark EGL1 project.
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SOURCE METLEN
