Alongside cutting-edge technology which will turn rubbish into enough energy to power 60,000 homes a year, Peterborough Renewable Energy Limited (PREL) says national experts on the process will be employed at the research and development centre on the site, bringing highly skilled jobs to the city.

Plans for PREL's energy centre, which would be located in the Fengate industrial area of the city, will be submitted to the Government today, and include plasma technology never before used in Britain.

The 34-acre site would be able to deal with 650,000 tonnes of rubbish every year, converting it into heat, energy or materials that can be used in industry with, the organisation has stressed, limited effect on the environment.

Managing director Chris Williams said: "There will be 109 employees at the plant, and at least 60 per cent will be graduates, many of who will be working in the research and development centre, trying to improve the process and technology as much as possible.

"We want to attract young, enthusiastic people to the facility, which will also be good news for Peterborough."

Alongside the research and development centre, there will also be lecture halls and a visitor centre, to allow people to see how the facility works.

Mr Williams said the energy park's new plans also enhance the city's green credentials, as not only will the emissions from the plant be environmentally friendly, saving 12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 20 years, but it is also hoped that the buildings themselves could become a haven for wildlife.

The structures will have "green roofs" with grass and other plants growing on them – one of the roofs is intended to be just the right habitat for the black redstart, one of the rarest birds in Britain.

The green spaces will also provide employees with somewhere to relax during the summer months.

Plans include grassland and ponds throughout the site, to encourage other wildlife to the area.

And the company claims that because the only materials that will be incinerated at the site will be biomass – wood, plants and straw, for example – the carbon dioxide produced by burning the matter will be neutralised by the amount of carbon dioxide the plants had absorbed when they were alive.

Mr Williams said: "It is important that the centre has green credentials, and we have been very careful to put this in our plans.

"Only 32 per cent of the land will be taken up with the actual buildings, with a lot of land being green spaces, which we hope will be the perfect habitat for wildlife. This is in contrast to other developments in the area, where there is a lot of concrete.

"The emissions produced at the site will also be very green. In fact, the cleaning process is so efficient that the air coming out of the plant is actually cleaner than the air that goes in."