BIOMASS PLANT COULD SOON BE USING FOREST FUEL TO POWER HOMES

A COMMISSIONING date of early 2015 has been given by the company behind a planning application for a £130 million biomass plant at Port of Immingham.

Should Real Ventures' 49MW Reality Energy Centre be given the go-ahead, a 30-month construction programme could begin later this year.

It would create up to 250 short-term construction jobs and 35 long-term positions once operational. Between 140 and 240 indirect jobs have also been identified by the developers.

The Reality Energy Centre, a combined heat and power plant fired by sustainable biomass, would focus on forestry residue as a feedstock, which would be shipped into the port.

Ray Tucker, chief executive officer of Real Ventures, an Isle Of Wight-headquartered firm, said: "We have identified biomass as the best way of providing a substantial increase in renewable energy, on a consistent and reliable basis and with a major reduction in carbon emissions.

"There are significant reserves of fuel from sustainable sources. For example, the European Environment Agency has estimated that 100 million tonnes of forestry residues alone are sustainably available for biomass fuel every year in Europe.

"These residues are currently largely wasted, producing greenhouse gases as they are left to decompose on the forest floor."

The proposal would see a facility delivering up to 372 GWh of electricity annually, which equates to consumption in more than 90,000 homes, or 42 per cent of the total electricity consumption in North East Lincolnshire.

The development comes after the company announced plans for a third site, also on Associated British Ports' land, across the Humber in Hull, to add to the proposals for Immingham and another scheme on the Isle Of Wight. It is also a 49MW plant. Finance for the schemes will be raised after the consents are through.