UK's largest biomass plant approved, biomass task force created

Scotland's Environment Minister Mike Russell has announced plans to boost wood supplies for renewable energy production at a plant in Lockerbie and throughout Scotland. He unveiled proposals to set up an industry-wide task force to tackle the issue when he visited the biomass station at Steven's Croft. Meanwhile, farmers in southern Scotland have become aware of the bright prospects for bioenergy and have begun turning over large slices of their land to growing willow, a short rotation coppice energy crop.

The new biomass project is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom. The £90 (€133/US$178) million E.ON facility is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year. It will be capable of performing the following tasks:

• generating enough electricity to power 70,000 homes
• providing over 300 jobs in the forestry and energy farming sector
• displacing the emission of 140,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases each year

E.ON operates three coal fired power stations in the UK (Ratcliffe, Kingsnorth and Ironbridge), and in al three of them biomass is co-fired. The type of fuels that are being burnt include cereal pellets, olive cakes and wood.

According to the recently published UK Biomass Strategy (earlier post), the total amount of wood available to England, Scotland and Wales for use as fuel is set to increase by 55% over the next decade, from 1.1million oven dry tonnes to 1.7million oven dry tonnes.

Task force
The new biomass plant is one of a number of green power projects across Scotland which are fuelled by wood. The increasing demand for timber supplies has prompted Mr Russell to examine how to meet the future needs of the sector. The Minister announced plans for the Forestry Commission Scotland to lead an industry task force to work to balance supply and demand in the long term.

The new task force will consider ways of bringing forward supplies from currently under-utilised sources such as forest residues, short rotation coppice and under-managed woodlands. It will also consider the impact of increased demand for wood fuel on the future balance between supply and demand within the wood processing sector:
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The task force will be led by Forestry Commission Scotland and will include representatives from the renewable energy, wood processing and land management sectors.

The announcement was made during a visit to E.ON's £90 million biomass plant in Lockerbie, the largest of its kind in the UK. Currently, E.ON expects to begin testing the plant after the summer and commission the station by the turn of the year. Overall,

The Forestry Commission Scotland has a number of woodfuel officers around the country who are working with a range of organisations to help develop and demonstrate the benefits of changing to wood fired systems. Already, the Commission has been helping both small and large scale woodfuel projects get under way and by next year is expected to be supplying well over 100,000 tonnes of material for woodfuel. Forestry Commission Scotland also has a contract to provide timber to the woodfuel supplier for the E.ON plant.

Head of Construction at E.ON Adrian Chatterton said “We were delighted to welcome the Minister to Steven’s Croft. When we commission the plant later this year it will be a flagship addition to our fleet.”

During Mr Russell's visit to the area he saw the whole woodfuel process in action from harvesting the timber through to the processing of it at James Jones before it is moved on to the E.ON plant. He also stopped in at the Barony College to discuss forestry training issues.

The Forestry Commission Scotland serves as the Scottish Government's forestry department. It manages 668,000 hectares of national forest land for multiple benefits, including nature conservation, public recreation, timber production, and rural and community development; supports other woodland owners with grants, felling licences, advice and regulation; promotes the benefits of forests and forestry; and advises Ministers on forestry policy.

E.ON is the UK's largest integrated power and gas company - generating, distributing and retailing electricity - and is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. It employs around 16,000 people in the UK. E.ON is one of the leading green generators with 20 wind farms located from Cornwall to Northern Ireland. Two of their power stations burn biomass material with the new Steven’s Croft plant set to be the largest of its kind in the UK.

Becoming energy farmers
Given the growing interest for bioenergy, farmers across southern Scotland have already been turning over large slices of their land to growing willow. It is hoped much of it will eventually be used as fuel for the Steven's Croft biomass power station which is nearing completion outside Lockerbie.

The plant requires 220,000 tonnes of fuel a year and it is hoped local willow can provide about 45,000 tonnes.

The latest sowing of the willow crop has been at a six-and-a-half hectare field at Dalscone Farm in Dumfries and more is due to be planted shortly at Stranraer, Kilmarnock and Lockerbie.

Renewable Fuels, the company growing and supplying harvested willow for the station, is expanding its programme for developing energy crop production in Scotland. Contracts manager John Farrell said there was an increasing awareness of the revenue potential of the crop.

Increasingly popular
"Farmers in Dumfries and Galloway are becoming interested and we have already planted in four areas of the south west this spring and several more are in line," he said. A spokesman for the National Union of Farmers Scotland in Dumfries said he was aware that willow was becoming more popular.

"There is potential there and there are certainly fields about the Lockerbie area where it is in," he said. "The siting of the plant in Lockerbie has encouraged some people to try and diversify into that area."

Image 1: simulation of the proposed E.ON plant in Lockerbie. Credit: E.ON.
Image 2: farmers in Scotland have taken up planting short rotation coppice like willow. Credit: BBC.

More information:
Forestry Commission: Minister announces wood fuel task force - June 15, 2007.

E.ON UK: Biomass page.

BBC: Farmers speculate on biomass boom - June 15, 2007.