UK Unveils First Biomass Power Plant

The UK's first large-scale wood-burning biomass power plant was officially opened today.

UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks opened the plant built by Singapore conglomerate SembCorp Industries (SembCorp) in Teesside, in the north of England.

The £64m pound project will use 300,000t of sustainable wood a year to generate 30MW of electricity – enough to power 30,000 households.

SembCorp's new power station will save an estimated 200,000t of carbon dioxide emissions a year compared to the conventional power station, equivalent to taking off 67,000 cars off the road, says the company.

This will also class the plant's operations as carbon neutral earning them carbon credits which they can trade.

By Ahsanul Islam