Drax Group Plc is currently in the process of converting three of the stations six boilers to burn around seven million tonnes of biomass per year, in order to capitalise on incentives being offered through the Renewables Obligation Scheme.
It had been hoped that an increase in the biomass burning capacity in the UK would provide extra demand for waste wood, but Drax has ruled out burning waste wood biomass at the plant.
Peter Emery, executive director of production at Drax Group Plc, explained that the company had considered waste wood as a feedstock but decided instead to use virgin wood sourced from the USA and Canada as it would require fewer modifications to the existing technology.
He said: The boilers here are not compliant with the Waste Incineration Directive. We decided some time ago that would cause a lot of complications. We believe that modern waste incinerators are highly sophisticated and do the job very well so none of the biomass we will be burning here will be considered waste.
Investment
The £700 million investment in the plant, which includes a £50 million loan from the Green Investment Bank, will make Drax the largest biomass burning power plant in Europe.
The first boiler to burn 100% biomass fuel is expected to be operational in mid April 2013. Several of the boilers are already co-firing biomass and coal. Conversion of the second and third boilers to burning a solely biomass fuel is expected to be completed in 2014 and 2015.
Part of the money will also be used to build two wood pellet facilities near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which will be used to supply biomass to the plant.
Storage
Biomass will enter the UK at ports in Tyne, Hull and Immingham, where it will be transported by rail to Drax and deposited in one of the four purpose-built domes that are being erected to store the material. Each dome will have the capacity to store around 70,000 tonnes of wood pellet at a time. The wood is then transported by conveyor into one of the biomass-burning boilers.
Mr Emery said that Drax may also look to take in material such as sunflower husks and peanut shells, but said that this is only likely to be a small percentage of the feedstock that the plant takes.
He also commented that feeding the plant with two different types of fuel will mean it is less vulnerable to shifts in the market and changes to government subsidy levels, adding: We will benefit from having two different types of input which means that if the government position changes we will have a lot of flexibility.
The power station currently burns around nine million tonnes of coal per-year, supplying roughly 7% of the UKs energy demand.
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