A £60 million waste wood energy plant to be located at Blackburn Meadows has been approved by the Sheffield city council. The project, contracted to E.On, will be a large-scale biomass power station with the capacity to burn approximately 180,000 tonnes of locally sourced waste wood per year. The facility will be the power company’s largest undertaking to date. The waste wood will be used as a biomass fuel and the proposed power station is expected to have the ability to generate “up to 25 megawatts of electricity, producing power for up to 40,000 homes”.
The company’s regional director for climate and renewables, Dave Rogers, said: “We’re delighted that the city council has given us the green light to develop this project.
“Biomass power stations offer us an exciting opportunity to help combat climate change by using ‘carbon neutral’ products in the place of traditional fossil fuels to generate electricity - further proof of our commitment to changing energy in the UK,” he added.
A company spokesperson said that once the plant is in operation, it will seek locally sourced wood, i.e., wood that is gathered within a 50 mile radius of Sheffield. The spokesman also said that the plant would use “any type of recycled wood that’s suitable”.
However, he revealed that contracts for the supply of wood to be burnt in the plant are not yet in place, adding that “at the moment we’re in discussions with a preferred supplier”.
E.On plans to begin construction work on the power station next year and the company projects that the plant will be fully operational by 2011.
For more information, visit: eon.com
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