The Singapore-owned company behind the project, SembCorp Utilities, has revealed that the finance is now in place for the 60 million project, which has so far been three years in the making.
”This investment offers us a great platform from which we can move forward to a brighter, greener future. “
– Paul Gavens, SembCorp Utilities UK
The total fuel requirement for the “Wilton 10” project will be 300,000 tonnes of material each year, 40% of which will be sourced from recycled wood, 20% from forestry products, 20% from specially-grown energy crops and 20% from saw mills.
The new biomass plant will generate 30MW of electricity – enough to power about 30,000 homes – and is expected to be operational in mid-2007.
The plant is being built at an existing power station at Wilton, which provides energy for the Wilton International industrial park. Because of this, the new boiler needs no new planning permission, the company told letsrecycle.com.
Funding
Some 10 million of the investment for the plant has come from the Bio-energy Capital Grants Scheme, funded by the DTI and the national lottery, while further finance has come from French bank Crdit Agricole Group.
Paul Gavens, managing director of SembCorp Utilities UK, said the project would play a part in helping the government meet the UK's climate change and emission targets. He said: “We believe this investment will transform our operations and offers us a great platform from which we can move forward to a brighter, greener future.”
The company is in negotiations with possible sources of recycled wood, and is expected to reveal more on where its supplies will come from in coming months.
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Demolition and construction work for the Wilton plant is now getting underway, and once up and running the plant will be a sizeable boost to UK wood recycling with current estimates for the amount of wood recycling in the UK at about 800,000 tonnes.
While WRAP – the Waste and Resources Action Programme – is working to increase UK wood recycling, targeting a 150,000 tonne rise in wood recycling, its business plan prevents it from providing assistance for biomass projects.
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