The DTI has launched a £66 million support scheme
for bio-energy projects. The money will support the establishment
of up to six power stations to produce electricity from burning fast
growing crops such as straw, willow or miscanthus (elephant grass),
and up to a hundred smaller power and heat plants. The Bioenergy
Capital Grants Scheme, jointly funded by DTI and New Opportunities
Fund, will support power generation and combined heat and power projects
using energy crops and other biomass. It is expected to lever in approximately
£200 million of private sector investment.
Energy Minister Wilson emphasised the potential
benefits to the rural economy of crops-for-energy. "Biomass
projects up to now in the UK have been mainly small. This scheme,
the first initiative of its kind, will stimulate this technology.
Rural communities have much to gain from the growth of this industry,
in terms of jobs and farm incomes. Harvesting and transport will provide
employment throughout the difficult winter months - when most energy
crops-management takes place. At the same time, the Government has
already put in place support for the establishment of energy crops
through DEFRA’s Energy Crop Scheme, worth an additional £29 million
over the next 6 years."
He added "A key
reason for DTI funding of this programme is to bring forward advanced
technologies - such as pyrolysis and gasification and to develop supply
chain networks. We have also recognised within the Renewables Obligation,
the supporting role co-fired power stations can play in helping to develop
biomass and energy crops, and in delivering renewable energy capacity
quickly and at relatively low cost."
Advanced Biomass combustion
The DTI has already provided a £2.9m grant to develop
the next generation of biomass-fuelled technology. The grant, which
is the largest awarded by the DTI Renewables Programme for a biomass
project, will support a £7.3m development programme involving Alstom
Power UK Ltd and First Renewables Ltd. The project aims to push forward
the development of the technology that is available to generate electricity
from energy crops and other fuels from farming and forestry. The project
consortium will work on extending the technology and techniques that
will eventually lead to commercially viable, grid-connected power stations
that will help the UK reach its renewable energy and greenhouse gas
targets. The industry estimates that around a 1,000 MW of new biomass
projects will be required to contribute to the achievement of the 10%
renewables target by 2010 and it is hoped that the use of biomass fuels
in the form of traditional forestry, energy crops and crop residues
will provide a much needed boost for the agricultural sector.
Speaking at an Alstom International Association
dinner in London, Wilson said: "The
Government is committed to bringing green energy from the margins into
the mainstream. This project will help us reach that goal and is a good
example of business responding to the challenge of climate change. I
want to see more investment from British industry into these new and
emerging technologies."
The project will build upon the ARBRE (Arable Biomass
Renewable Energy) project, the first commercial wood-fired power station
to utilise high-efficiency gasification technology in Europe. The ARBRE
project team, including Alstom Power UK Ltd., is led by First Renewables
Ltd. and this investment is seen as the ideal platform from which to
build the 2nd generation programme.
Project Details
The new project is a collaborative effort between
ALSTOM Power UK Ltd in Lincoln, First Renewables in Leeds and Cambridge
University. The industrial partners have made a strong start on developing
the technology at the 8 MW Project ARBRE in Eggborough, N Yorks. This
new research project will build on the advances already made at ARBRE
and will develop the techniques and technologies needed to move closer
to commercial implementation. It will scale up the design by a factor
of five, improve the performance of the concept and develop a gas turbine
adapted specifically for the application.
ALSTOM Power in Lincoln has been closely involved
in the development of gas turbine technology for advanced power generation
from coal and biomass for two decades. The gas turbine aspects of the
project build on the success of the ALSTOM 4.5 MW Typhoon turbine supplied
to the ARBRE project, and earlier to the Varnamo project in Sweden.
This work will enable ALSTOM's new, larger 13 MW Cyclone gasturbine
to be developed to operate commercially in this application. First Renewables,
the developers of project ARBRE, will carry out the work on process
and project development including value engineering and process design
work. This will include the implications of using a wider range of biomass
fuels and evaluating the environmental aspects including a fuel supply
chain that will have 6,000 ha of willow short rotation coppice.
Biomass grows
The UK opened the world’s largest and most
efficient straw fired power station earlier this year. The £60
m power station, developed by EPR Ely and based in Sutton near
Ely, uses new techniques to burn surplus straw to generate electricity.
The 36 MW plant will generate over 270 GWh of electricity a year; enough
power to heat and light 80,000 homes. The electricity will feed directly
into the National grid via an 11 km connection to a nearby substation.
The power station will consume around 200,000 tonnes/year of straw collected
from farms within a 50 mile radius. The plant comprises of 18 metre
high straw barns flanking a 25 metre high central boiler. To blend in
with the surrounding business park, the design had to resemble the existing
warehouse building.
At the launch, Brian Wilson, Minister for Energy,
said ‘The opening of this power station represents a milestone
in the Government’s drive for renewable energy. It is the UK’s
first power station to use any agricultural crop as its fuel. The power
station’s fuel supply, logistics, projects development and financing
were all UK based. The rapid development of energy crops, not only reduces
the effects of climate change, but creates employment opportunities
in manufacturing, construction, plant operation and servicing. The potential
for a green manufacturing industry is an important part of the case
in favour of developing our renewables energy. The development of bio-energy
will also help maintain rural employment during winter when most energy
crop harvesting takes place. It will also provide farmers with new market
opportunities with growth potential and bring neglected woodland back
into production to keep money in rural economies’.
He added ‘the
DTI is providing substantial support for energy crops. Power stations
using biomass will be eligible under the soon to be introduced renewables
obligation. Also, the Government is providing planting grants for farmers
and capital grants for new power stations to convert these crops into
electricity. Over a three year period the DTI will give a boost to bio
energy worth almost £85m.’
Wilson particularly praised the company EPR Ely,
who he said deserved congratulations ‘for their sympathetic development
of the Ely site which, by sensitive landscaping and architecture have
helped to overcome community concerns. Care and imagination can help
new facilities blend in with their local surroundings and this is an
example for the whole renewables community.’
The project was developed by EPR Ely, a partnership
between Energy Power Resources (EPR) and Cinergy Global Power.
