RWE npower renewables appoints contractors to deliver £200m biomass plant

4 February 2010

RWE npower renewables has appointed Finnish contractor Metso and Norwegian Aker Solutions as key contractors to for its £200m biomass-fuelled combined heat and power plant at Markinch in Fife, Scotland.

Metso, a global supplier of technology and services for a variety of industries, will provide the site’s main biomass boiler and Aker Solutions, a provider of engineering and construction services and part of Aker Solutions ASA, will project manage construction, provide support services and procure some of the plant equipment.

RWE npower renewables is working in partnership with paper maker Tullis Russell to supply its plant with steam and electricity from the new biomass facility. The plant, which the company said will be the biggest of its kind in Scotland, will have an installed capacity of 50MW and will replace the existing coal-fired power plant at Tullis Russell.

Stephan Lohr, RWE head of biomass, said, ‘The combined skills and expertise of our chosen contractors Metso and Aker Solutions will be a major asset during the construction of the new Tullis Russell biomass power plant. Whilst initial groundwork has begun, construction will begin in earnest later this year and the power plant is scheduled for operation in late 2012.

‘This project is RWE’s largest investment to date in biomass based power generation and part of our ongoing commitment to invest €1bn per annum in renewable energy. In addition to this project, we are developing plans for a similar biomass plant in Lincolnshire, with an installed capacity of 65MW. Across Europe, we are aiming to build biomass plants with a total installed capacity of around 390MW by 2013,’ Lohr added.

The development announced in July 2008 was backed by First Minister Alex Salmond and received £8.1m support via the Scottish government’s regional selective assistance grant, established to support the creation of new jobs. The company said the plant will reduce Tullis Russell’s Markinch site carbon footprint by 72 per cent.

Chris Parr, CEO of Tullis Russell Group said, ‘This project heralds significant economic and environmental benefits for Scotland.’

RWE has over 15 years experience in delivering combined heat and power projects, building, operating and owning 16 plants in the UK and Republic of Ireland, providing more than 2,000 MW of heat and power capacity.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

Tags: biomass

This story was published on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 5:46 pm and is filed under Europe, biomass/biofuel, companies. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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