BASILDON MP Stephen Metcalfe has sniffed out the history of a borough power contributor following a recent visit.

The MP for South Basildon & East Thurrock visited Pitsea Landfill Gas Power Station to take a look at how engineers are using the historic landfillto power homes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

He met with Energy Developments Limited (EDL), the renewable energy company which owns and operates the power station.

Dating back to 1906, the Pitsea landfill site is one of the oldest in the UK.

Today, EDL uses the landfill's decomposing organic matter, which creates methane, to supply energy to the National Grid.

The Pitsea Landfill Gas Power Station abates and avoids the equivalent of 590,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum.

This is around the equivalent of 153,000 cars off the road per annum.

In total, it has a generating capacity of 16.2MW which goes to the National Grid.

If the methane from the landfill site was not used to generate electricity, it would release into the atmosphere.