U.K. Straw-fired Power Plant Ready to Go

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Work is set to start later this month on the U.K.'s second only straw-fired biomass plant in Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

The Sleaford Renewable Energy Plant will use up to 240,000 tonnes of straw a year to generate up to 38.5 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough for around 65,000 homes. The project is being overseen by renewable energy firm Eco2 Limited (Cardiff, United Kingdom) , which sold it on to specialist investment group, BNP Paribas Clean Energy (London, England) , for €211 million ($273 million) last December. When commissioned in 2014, the plant will offset the equivalent of 300,000 tonnes of CO2 annually, said Eco2.

The Sleaford project received special mention recently by the U.K.'s Prime Minister, David Cameron, when he addressed a gathering of international energy ministers from 23 countries in London. He welcomed the investment in Sleaford, and other green projects, that would amount to investments topping €435 million ($563 million) and creating 800 jobs.

"With global demand forecast to increase by more than 40% in the next two decades, we urgently need a more diverse, cleaner mix of energy sources that will give us energy security without causing irreparable damage to the planet," Cameron told the Clean Energy Summit. "Renewables are now the fastest growing energy source on the planet. Britain has gone from virtually no capacity for renewables, to seeing them provide almost 10% of our total electricity needs last year. And we've added more capacity for renewables in the last two years than at any time in the last decade."

David Williams, Chief Executive of Eco2 commented: "In gaining government approval at the highest level, our Sleaford plant is now center stage as an exemplar of the green economic progress in the U.K. and part of the vision for sustainable energy. We are looking forward to construction starting and making a significant contribution to the local economy of Lincolnshire."

The Sleaford plant will use a steam boiler island from Denmark's Burmeister & Wain Energy A/S), which will also supply and install the straw feeding lines and the boiler's combustion air system. The boiler will be fed by straw bales, conveyed through a set of fire gates to the bale opener, where the loosened straw is then dropped onto a water-cooled vibration grate to be burned. The plant will also be designed to operate with up to 20% wood chips as an auxiliary fuel.

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