Markinch Biomass Plant, United Kingdom

RWE Innogy's UK subsidiary RWE npower renewable is building a biomass-based combined heat and power (CHP) plant to supply power to a paper mill owned by Tullis Russel in Markinch, a small town in Fife, Scotland. With an installed capacity of 50MW, it will be the largest power plant of its kind in the country.

The plant, which is being built to replace the existing coal-fired power plant at the paper mill site, requires an investment of approximately £200m. RWE, the owner and operator, officially took over the site in November 2010.

The project will create 540 jobs during construction and 40 permanent jobs during operation. The plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2012, after two years of construction.

Project finance

With the backing of Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, the project has received a support of £8.1m from the Scottish Government's Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) grant.

The RSA grant encourages investment and provides financial support to new as well as existing businesses of all sizes that can create or safeguard jobs in designated areas of Scotland.

Plant details

The existing power plant at Tullis Russell's paper mill uses coal- and gas-fired cogeneration method for the production of heat and electricity. It has to be closed down due to the Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD) regulations. An agreement to develop the CHP plant was signed between RWE and Tullis Russell in July 2008.

The new plant will provide the paper mill with steam, needed for drying paper, and electricity to run the facilities. A 20-year agreement for this purpose was signed between RWE npower renewables and Tullis Russell in September 2009.

Tullis Russell paper mill will be supplied with 120t of steam per hour. In order to facilitate the paper mill with a secure supply of steam, three gas fired boilers will be installed.

Out of the total electricity generated, approximately 17MW will be supplied to Tullis Russell and 25MW will be exported.

Construction

The full-fledged construction of the plant commenced in November 2010 after the completion of enabling works. The works undertaken between September 2009 and November 2010 included diversion of one of the mill's main internal waterways, re-routing of utilities and construction of a 29,000ft² roll store.

Technology

Markinch Biomass Power Plant will use CHP technology which generates both electricity and useful heat simultaneously. It supplies useful heat by using the waste heat produced from electricity generation.

CHP plants use a heat engine or a power station to convert a fossil / renewable fuel into useful heat and power. When compared to power plants with separate units for production of heat and electricity, CHP plants generate up to 20% energy savings.

CHP plants also consume less fuel, which leads to a reduction in fuel cost and carbon emissions.

Around 400,000t of biomass per annum will be consumed by the plant. Biomass from both virgin and recycled wood will be produced by using a fluidised bed boiler and flue gas system, to be designed according to the rules and regulations of Waste Incineration Directive.

Turnkey process

Metso Power was awarded a contract worth £75m for the delivery of a 155MWth circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boiler and a flue gas treatment plant.

Aker Solutions was awarded a £115m contract to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), and project management. It is responsible for the design, supply, construction, installation and commissioning of the plant.

Local environmental impact

The CHP plant will cut down carbon footprint in the region by 72%, reducing fossil fuel carbon emissions by 250,000t per annum. It will partially help the Scottish Government to meet 6% of its renewable energy targets.