Glennmont Margam green energy plant enters commercial operation

The £160 million (€180 million) renewable electricity Margam Green Energy Plant, located three miles south-east of Port Talbot in south Wales, has entered commercial operation. The plant is owned by Glennmont Partners, one of Europe’s largest and best-known renewable energy fund managers.

The main contractor for the Margam power project, the consortium of Babcock & Wilcox Vølund and Interserve Construction, has now formally handed it over to Glennmont Partners. The renewable energy plant, fuelled by waste wood, will generate power for up to 75,000 homes.

Construction of the 40MW Margam plant started in 2016 and at one stage employed more than 400 people on site. Babcock & Wilcox Vølund (B&W) and Interserve worked in partnership with a large number of sub-contractors from Wales and other parts of the UK and continental Europe. The construction management of the power station was led by the Cardiff energy company, Eco2 Ltd. 

Working closely with Glennmont, Eco2 now has management responsibility for Margam’s commercial operation as well as responsibility for Margam’s waste wood fuel logistics. B&W has operational and maintenance responsibility for the power plant; 25 people are directly employed at Margam.

Peter Dickson, partner at Glennmont Partners said, “We are very pleased to see Margam fired-up and generating renewable energy for homes and businesses in south Wales. Margam is a long-term investment in Wales’s energy infrastructure. Glennmont has appreciated the hard work of everyone to complete Margam’s construction: the efforts of B&W, Interserve, Eco2 and in particular the commitment shown by so many individual workers on site. We have had challenges along the way but I’m delighted to have reached this moment, seeing Margam generating renewable electricity into the grid.”