Houghton Joins Lynemouth Coal-to-Biomass Conversion in U.K.

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The £85 million ($109 million) conversion of the Lynemouth coal-fired plant to biomass has added U.K. electro-mechanical engineering specialist Houghton International (Newcastle upon Tyne, England) to the mix.

The company has secured a three-year motor maintenance and repair contract at Lynemouth Power Limited in Northumberland, England. The plant is being converted to a biomass plant that will have a generating capacity of 420 megawatts (MW) and be capable of powering roughly 450,000 homes when commissioned in April 2018. The plant is running just under a year behind schedule.

When operational it will be fuelled by approximately 1.4 million tons of wood waste per year. In 2014, Lynemouth, which has three operational units, was one of eight projects to get financial support from the U.K. government to help convert the units for burning biomass.

Houghton will be responsible for the ongoing repair and maintenance of all motors, generators, and all electrical rotating equipment during the initial conversion and the ongoing operations of the site.

"We are delighted to have been awarded this contract with Lynemouth Power Limited, and work is already under way to support the engineers during the transition to biomass," said Michael Mitten, Chief Executive Officer of Houghton International. "We recently enhanced our capacity and testing facilities at our Newcastle-based site, and this contract is testament to that investment. Our highly experienced teams have many years experience working with this type of kit, and I'm confident we will add real value throughout the duration of the contract."

The company has opened a large machine repair shop and invested over £300,000 ($384,000) in plant and machinery over the past year to improve performance and "keep up with demand," the company stated. This includes new condition monitoring equipment, winding kit and energy-efficient ovens.

The plant is owned by Czech energy company Energetický a Průmyslový Holding (EPH) (Prague), which purchased the plant from Germany's second-largest utility, RWE AG (XETRA:RWE) (Essen, Germany) in 2016. The, which was purchased by RWE in 2012, was sold for an undisclosed sum. For additional information, see January 13, 2016, article - RWE Sells Lynemouth Coal-fired Plant in U.K..

Earlier this year, Industrial Info reported that EPH had appointed Emerson (NYSE:EMR) (St. Louis, Missouri) as the main automation and electrical contractor to the project. For additional information, see January 26, 2017, article - Emerson Secures U.K. Coal-to-Biomass Plant Deal.

Emerson is responsible for demolition, engineering, installation, start-up, commissioning and coordination of work among multiple suppliers and contractors. It will install its Ovation integrated automation platform for all applications, including turbine, boiler, fuel handling and balance-of-plant processes, as well as electrical systems.

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