Energy firm E.ONs 120 million waste wood-fed biomass plant at Blackburn Meadows generated electricity and synchronised with the local distribution network for the first time on Tuesday evening (June 24).
Located around 5.5km north east of Sheffield city centre, the plant will generate up to 30MW of energy each year enough to supply 40,000 homes when it comes into full operation, which is expected to be later this summer.
In addition, the plant will supply hot water to a 20 million low-carbon district heating network, which is due to be completed in early 2015, and heat directly to homes and businesses in the area.
Waste wood feedstock for Blackburn Meadows is set to be supplied by wood recycling company R Plevin & Sons under a deal which will last for the expected 25-year lifetime of the plant.
In order to supply E.ON, Plevin is currently commissioning its 5 million Hazlehead wood recovery plant in South Yorkshire, which the company claims is still on track to open in the coming weeks despite being hit by two fires in recent months.
‘The next and final stage of the project is the reliability and performance testing phase which is due to be completed this summer.’
Luke Ellis, E.ON’s Blackburn Meadows project manager
The latest Plevin fire on June 2 resulted in the Environment Agency issuing an enforcement notice to stop material being received at the Hazlehead site after water run-off from the fire seeped into local waterways where dead fish were found (see letsrecycle.com story).
However, despite the problems at its waste wood supplier Plevin, a spokeswoman for E.ON said the Blackburn Meadows plant was on track to open later in the summer as planned.
Construction
Work started on the Blackburn Meadows development in 2011, before official then-energy minister Charles Hendry attended the official groundbreaking ceremony in March 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Since 2011, according to E.ON, around 3,400 people have been involved in the construction process, while 30 full-time jobs are expected to be created by the development. A community benefits fund worth up to 25,000 per year is also set to be launched by the company to support local projects.
Luke Ellis, E.ON’s Blackburn Meadows Project Manager, said: After several years of hard work by the project team and our contractors it is a great feeling to be finally generating power. The next and final stage of the project is the reliability and performance testing phase which is due to be completed this summer.
Blackburn Meadows is E.ONs third biomass plant in the UK. The firm opened its 44MW biomass plant at Stevens Croft near Lockerbie in 2007 (see lesrecycle.com story) and also operates a biomass facility at Ironbridge, Shropshire, which is set to close in 2015 under the Large Combustion Plant Directive.
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