Final close has been reached today on a £51.6m renewable energy power plant to be built in Northampton. The proposed plant will convert 60,000 tonnes of dry waste wood feedstock into 9MW of electricity using gasification technology by Nexterra Systems Corp., generating clean electricity.
The waste wood would otherwise be exported energy recovery purposes in northern Europe.
The generated electricity from the Welland Bio Power Plant will be exported to the National Grid and used to provide power to 17,000 homes in the UK each year. The result will be an annual saving of 28,809 tonnes of CO2, equating to more than half a million tonnes over the plant’s lifespan.
£17.2m has been invested into the scheme by Balfour Beatty, and this has been matched by investment partners, Noy Infrastructure & Energy Investment Fund and Equitix.
Managing Director of Economic Infrastructure at Balfour Beatty Investments, Steve Orrell, said: “This innovative biomass project is our second investment into the renewable energy sector and is one of a pipeline of similar opportunities that we are exploring together with Nexterra.”
The EPC contract for the 10.6MW (gross) plant has been awarded to MWH Treatment. Ian Miller, Operations Director at MWH, said: “This will be the second power plant of its type and we think this deal signals an industry shift towards similar types of projects moving forward, in order to help fill the energy gap that currently exists as well as diverting waste from landfill.
“We are working on a number of similar projects, and this gives us a great deal of confidence for the future. As well as producing clean renewable energy, this project will also ensure local jobs as well as supporting local business.”
Balfour Beatty and MWH have previously developed Birmingham Bio Power at Tyseley with renewables developer Cogen, scheduled for completion in 2016.
The Welland project is due for completion in March 2017
