The environmental services firm Veolia, based in France, has signed a 30-year contract with the Hertfordshire County Council in the United Kingdom to recover energy from residual waste. The value of the contract is around 1 billion pounds (U.S. $1.3 billion).

According to Veolia, the program will generate around 33.5 megawatts of electricity from the 350,000 metric tons of potential residual ‘black bin’ waste (that cannot be reused, recycled or composted) each year.

In a release announcing the deal, Estelle Brachlianoff, senior executive vice president of Veolia UK and Ireland, says, “Our partnership with Hertfordshire County Council has been strengthened following this new contract that will result in a significant investment in waste treatment infrastructure. This solution will not only maximize landfill diversion, but also represents a source of low carbon energy which will power 69,000 homes per year.”

Construction on the energy-from-waste facility is expected to begin in 2017 and be operational in 2020.