Power company E.ON UK has revealed that construction on its 90 million facility at Steven's Croft near Lockerbie in Scotland has reached an “advanced stage” and will begin commissioning this year.
 Work on EON's biomass boiler at Steven's Croft is almost complete. |
The firm will burn 48,000 tonnes of wood a year and around a fifth of the material will come from recycled sources. This will be provided by E.ON's main fuel supplier and waste wood reprocessor, A W Jenkinson Ltd.
An E.ON spokesman told letsrecycle.com: “The boiler is almost complete and we are at an advanced stage and looking to fire things up in August or September, with commissioning starting around December.”
Keith Plowman, E.ON UK's director of development and construction, said: “Getting Steven's Croft up and running will be one of the cornerstones in our renewables strategy moving forward. We're looking to build on past successes in new renewables and will continue to work towards meeting the Government's renewable energy targets.”
At the Steven's Croft site, AW Jenkinson Woodwaste has invested in a fuel processing plant where recycled and virgin wood will be delivered from sites throughout the UK. This will be mixed with short rotation coppice, sawmill co-products and small roundwood.
Material will then be screened and put through a magnetic separator to reach the right specification for the biomass burner. It will be burnt at 850 degrees Celsius in a boiler that is compliant with the Waste Incineration Directive. This will generate 44 megawatts of renewable energy a year.
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James Butler, managing director of A W Jenkinson Woodwaste in West Lothian, explained that the Lockerbie biomass plant would double AW Jenkinson's recycling business, which already processes 130,000 tonnes of waste wood a year.
He said: “Last week we took in about 2,000 tonnes of material and only had a market for 1,300 tonnes. The new plant will double my business especially by providing a marker for lower grade material. Eventually I expect to supply 150,000 tonnes of recycled wood a year.”
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