The proposed plant at Allerton Quarry, near Knaresborough, was granted planning consent by the county council last year and means construction can get underway shortly.
North Yorkshire County Council and the City of York Council said it would now conclude talks with waste plant developer Amey Cespa, which will deliver the project using £65m of private finance initiative funding.
A Vinci joint venture is in line to design and build an energy recovery centre, and carry out civil engineering for the buildings of the multi-stream Waste Recovery Park.
The plant will reduce by at least 90% the amount of household waste destined for landfill, currently a little over half the waste generated each year by the county’s 760,000 residents.
Incineration of household waste will produce enough electricity to supply up to 40,000 homes.