WILTON 10: NEW TEESIDE BIOMASS PLANT (01/06/06)

Sembcorp Utilities has started building its new Teeside biomass plant, known as Wilton 10.

The plant should be operational by this summer and will generate 30MW of power - enough to supply 30,000 homes - by wood from short rotation coppice and recycled sources.

UK Wood Recycling (UKWR) will be supplying the recycled wood and is in the process of constructing a purpose-built facility at Wilton to supply the plant.
Here, the company will handle all grades of non-hazardous wood, including chipboard, fibreboard, hardwood, plywood, melamine, and laminates.
It is estimated that UKWR will not only supply around 80,000 tonnes of woodchip annually to Wilton 10, but will also produce recycled livestock bedding.

It is expected that the plant will provide a greener and more economical means of waste disposal for local authorities too. Current figures suggest that around 10 million tonnes of waste wood is produced each year in the UK but only 1.5 million tonnes is recycled; most of it ends up in landfill.

An on-site laboratory will ensure that all wood supplied to the plant is of the correct specification before being used in the boiler.

In addition to using recycled woodchip, Wilton 10 will also need around 55,000 wet tonnes of SRC wood chip a year.

A subsidiary group of Greenergy, Greenergy Bioenergy Ltd, has begun sourcing stocks already. Greenergy has begun negotiations with Coppice Resources Ltd to offer supply contracts to growers within a 50 miles radius of the plant.

Wilton 10 is also expected to need an additional 160,000 tonnes from sawmill waste and forestry sources.