Biomass Plant Proposed For Unused Scottish Paper Mill

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--An unused paper mill is set to become Scotland's latest biomass project as the Brussels-headquartered, European division of International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) (Memphis, Tennessee) has announced plans to build a £60 million ($91 million) green-energy centre.

The energy project will entail construction of a 17-megawatt (MW) biomass-fired plant at the former Inverurie paper mill in Aberdeenshire, which was shut down by International Paper in March 2009, resulting in the loss of 371 jobs. The plant will also host an integrated wood-pelleting plant that can process 250,000 tonnes of locally-sourced timber every year.

The news comes as the U.K. government announced that it will not increase financial support under the Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROC) scheme for the co-firing of biomass and energy crops with combined heat and power (CHP). Following a six-week consultation, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has concluded that the co-firing of biomass with CHP will remain at 1.5 ROCs per megawatt-hour.

International Paper will work with Integrated Energy Systems International (Preston, England), a consortium of companies that will be responsible for building the power and pelleting plants. Detailed plans will be submitted in the coming months, with the aim of getting full planning permission before the end of the year. The pelleting plant can be built within 10 months, while 24 months have been allocated for construction of the biomass-fired plant.

"We are pleased to have reached this important stage in the proposed reindustrialisation of our former mill site that has the potential to create new manufacturing jobs in the locality," said Eric Chartrain, International Paper's vice president of European papers. "Our agreement suggests that detailed plans will be presented to the appropriate authorities, seeking a determination by the end of the year."

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond welcomed the development. "It was a great pleasure to be able to sign this agreement. I pay tribute to the months of hard work which has gone on behind the scenes between International Paper and their partners in the reindustrialisation project, which has taken us to this point.

"The mill closure, coming as it did in the deepest recession for nearly 70 years, could hardly have come at a worse time. The aim has always been to put the mill site back to an industrial use, and today marks a key milestone in that journey. With the building of a wood-pelleting plant and the commitment to install over 30 MW of multi-fuel biomass generating power, at least 50 permanent jobs will be created on-site, with a further 100 jobs created in support of the ventures off-site."

In February, RWE npower renewables (Swindon, England), part of German energy company RWE AG (OTC:RWEOY) (Essen, Germany) awarded the key contracts for Scotland's largest proposed biomass power plant, the £200 million ($304 million) CHP plant at Markinch in Fife. Metso (OTC:MXCYY) (Helsinki, Finland) and Norway's Aker Solutions (Oslo) will be responsible for the 155-MW facility, which will up and running by the end of 2012. For additional information, see January 21, 2010, article - RWE Awards Contracts For Scotland's Largest Biomass Plant.

IIR's Renewable Energy Database provides extensive coverage on the Wind Energy, Geothermal, Hydroelectric, Landfill Gas-to-Energy and Utility-Scale Solar power plants throughout North America, and now expanding coverage across the world.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.