Singapore-owned SembCorp Utilities Teeside is to build the plant next to its existing Wilton Power Station on Teeside. It should add an extra 30MW of power generation capability to the existing 133MW facility and would use renewable biomass feedstocks to replace fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas.
The company is looking at opening its new steam boiler and electricity turbine, known as the “Wilton 10”, in 2007. It should quality for the Renewables Obligation scheme, and SembCorp has already received an offer of financial support from the government.
Toby Beadle, the company's wood consultant, said: “The Department of Trade and Industry has offered us 10 million from the governments BioEnergy capital grant scheme and by the end of the year all capital requirements should be in place.”
The plant should take in about 150,000 tonnes of animal and plant feedstock each year, and of this, it is expected that about 40% would be from waste wood, although not waste wood packaging.
Sources
Mr Beadle said that waste wood would come from a variety of sources but the plant would not take in current feedstocks from wood recyclers: “The wood will be diverted from landfill and will come from civic amenity sites, chip board companies and construction and demolition projects.”
He revealed that the company was currently negotiating with a preferred wood recycling company to set up a wood recycling operation at the site.
As well as working with the wood sector, project managers are also working with local groups to ensure a feedstock of crops for the plant. Jonathan Scurlock, North East Community Forest's Renewables project manager told letsrecycle.com that boiler specifications which dictate what type of feedstock can be accepted had not yet been set. This could have implications for the range of wood that the plant would be able to accept.
“We understand that the boiler specification will be discussed at a board meeting at Singapore in November. In terms of wood, some boilers would not be able to accept some woods contaminated with things such as paints for example,” explained Mr Scurlock.
Worthwhile
Under the Renewables Obligation, the government requires power generators to produce 10% of the UK's power from renewable sources by 2010. Experts say that at 3% the country is slightly behind target, and biomass facilities can play a worthwhile part in helping the UK reach its target.
Paul Gavens, managing director of SembCorp said: “There's a long way to go but, if it goes ahead, this could be a project with major benefits to the environment and employment in the region as a whole.
“Wilton 10 would lead us to generate almost a quarter of our energy from renewable sources and help us play our part in helping the government meet its climate change targets.”
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