GDF Suez secures long-term PPAs from two UK biomass plants

Business energy company GDF Suez Energy UK has been awarded two new power purchase agreements (PPAs) – one by BWSC East Anglia (formerly ICENI Energy) and one by Templeborough Biomass Power Plant (formerly Brite Partnership (North East)).

The first agreement is to buy electricity generated by the Snetterton biomass plant in Norfolk when it opens in late 2016. Operated by BWSC East Anglia and backed by 100% funding from Copenhagen Infrastructure (CI) and Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC), the 44.2MW renewable energy facility will generate electricity by burning primarily straw.

Under the agreement, GDF Suez will buy all of the 350GWh of electricity exported to National Grid from the Snetterton plant each year. That is enough to meet the annual needs of up to 68,000 homes.

On the back of this contract, Templeborough Biomass Power Plant, which is wholly owned and funded by CI, awarded GDF Suez an identical PPA for the new Templeborough biomass plant in Rotherham. Expected to be commissioned in March 2017, this 39.3MW plant will burn waste wood to generate 315GWh of electricity annually – all of which will be purchased by GDF Suez.

BWSC East Anglia Limited and Templeborough Biomass Power Plant have agreed 15-year PPAs with GDF Suez Energy UK for both plants, providing long-term assurances of a regular income. GDF Suez Energy UK will buy the output from Snetterton and Templeborough at an index-linked rate, providing a market-reflective price for every kWh of electricity generated. To provide an assured return on investment, the PPAs also include a floor price, guaranteeing a minimum rate for the output from both plants.

'These new agreements are the first PPAs we have secured for biomass plants, having previously focused on wind power and energy-from-waste technologies,' says Paul Roberts, head of local portfolio management at GDF Suez Energy UK.

 

SOURCE: GDF Suez Energy UK