E.ON biomass plant on track for 2014 opening

A 120 million waste wood biomass plant being developed by energy giant E.ON at Blackburn Meadows, near Sheffield, is on schedule to open this year, according to the firm.

Construction work began on the plant, which will burn around 180,000 tonnes of biomass each year, in March 2012, with the groundbreaking ceremony attended by then-energy minister Chares Hendry (see letsrecycle.com story).

An E.ON spokeswoman told letsrecycle.com that the firm is on schedule for the facility to begin operations in 2014, with a likely opening this summer.

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 operation.

Wood recycling company R Plevin & Sons will be the sole supplier of waste wood feedstock under a deal which will last for the lifetime of the plant, which is expected to be around 25 years.

Announcing the multi-million pound deal with E.ON in November 2011, the Greater Manchester-based company described it as the most lucrative contract in its 38-year history (see letsrecycle.com story).

Jobs

Around 30 full-time jobs are expected to be created by the development, while a community benefits fund worth up to 25,000 per year will be launched by the company to support local projects at the Blackburn Meadows plant, which will also include a visitor centre.

E.ON has also owned and operated a 44MW dedicated biomass plant which burns materials including waste wood at Stevens Croft near Lockerbie since 2007 (see letsrecycle.com story).

Should the Blackburn Meadows facility come into operation on schedule this year, it would likely follow the opening of RWE Innogy UKs 400,000-425,000 tonnes per year capacity biomass plant in Markinch, Scotland, which started burning wood in March after several delays (see letsrecycle.com story).

The waste wood sector has also been waiting on news of MITIEs much-delayed 16 million biomass plant in Plymouth, which had previously been scheduled to begin processing 40,000 tonnes of waste wood per year into heat and power from 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story).