Peel Energy Unveils Plans for Manchester Biomass Plant

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Plans to build a new 20-megawatt (MW) biomass-fuelled plant on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in England have been revealed by Peel Energy, part of the property and holdings firm Peel Group (Manchester, England).

The Barton Renewable Energy Plant, which will be based in Trafford in Greater Manchester, will be fuelled primarily by biomass sourced from recycled wood, agricultural and forestry residues, and energy crops. The plant will generate enough renewable electricity for 37,000 homes and help offset approximately 75,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.

The project will cost an estimated £70 million ($106 million), and a planning application will be lodged this autumn with the aim to have the plant up and running by mid-2014. Peel Energy is also investigating options for increasing the overall efficiency of the plant through the supply of heat to local industry, businesses and homes in the area.

The company is confident that the proposal will be acceptable to the Trafford and Salford councils, as the proposed location was picked due to its proximity to existing infrastructure and will not require additional overhead cables and pylons, as electricity generated will be sent to the national grid via underground cable. The feedstock for the 200,000-tonne-per-year capacity facility will come from a variety of sources including waste wood, agricultural residues from harvesting and processing, virgin timber residues from forestry processes, and energy crops such as coppiced willow and miscanthus.

"Our venture into dedicated biomass-fired energy generation will contribute towards government targets for higher levels of renewable electricity generation and help provide secure energy supplies for the region," said Jon England, project director at Peel Energy. "We are keen to hear from as many interested parties as possible during our consultation phase, and I would encourage you to drop in and see us at the public consultation."

Last year, the government's Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) granted permission to another Peel Group company, Peel Environmental, to construct a 95-MW energy-from-waste facility in Cheshire that will burn 600,000 tonnes of waste each year. For additional information, see August 17, 2009, news article - U.K. Approves Waste-Burning Power Plant in Cheshire.

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 is now expanding coverage across the world.

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