Veolia contracted to operate Sherwood biomass plant in UK
Veolia UK, a branch of the French Veolia Group, has secured a contract from Equitix ESI CHP to operate the Sherwood Biomass Plant in Nottingham, UK.
The 20-year contract, worth £50 million (€69m), highlights the growing UK commitment to energy production from biomass, and adds to the £500 million of biomass energy managed by Veolia in the UK and Ireland.
Located in Widmerpool, Nottingham, the 6.55MWe biomass-fired combined heat and power (CHP) station is designed to provide sustainable green electricity for over 10,000 homes and supply up to 4.5MWth of process heat for the adjacent sawmill operations.
The new plant will recycle around 52,000 tonnes of waste wood as a carbon neutral fuel and will annually save around 8,400 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Estelle Brachlianoff, senior executive VP of Veolia UK and Ireland, says: ‘Ahead of COP21 this demonstrates our on-going commitment to cut carbon emissions for industry and communities, and sustainably recycles biomass that would otherwise be wasted.’
Under the contract, Veolia will provide operation and maintenance on a 24/7 basis and will deliver monitoring, reporting, and compliance services.
The agreement also covers water treatment, emission monitoring, and ash disposal for the new plant that is due to start generating renewable electricity and heat in spring 2017.
The Sherwood plant will use a traditional steam cycle for generating electricity though the combustion of life expired wastewood from local sources.
The contract follows Veolia’s recent appointment to operate the Holbrook Community Energy Centre in Sheffield.
The company has extended its biomass energy operations by 55MWe this year alone.
In the UK, Veolia’s renewable biomass energy operations have saved over 500,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions in the last four years, the company reports.
