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Wrexham set for new 5.4 MW CHP ‘ready’ biomass plant

Construction work will soon commence on a new biomass power plant in Wrexham Industrial Estate, north Wales, UK after developers secured a commitment totaling GBP 25 million from UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB) and Equitix. The 5.4 MWe biomass power plant, the second to be developed by Liverpool-based Green Plan Energy, will be combined heat and power (CHP) ‘ready’, meaning it has the potential to provide heat to neighbouring manufacturing businesses.

The Equitix-managed fund Energy Savings Investment (ESI), in which GIB is a cornerstone investor, is investing GBP 12.25 million in the project and an additional GBP 12.75 million of private capital has been mobilised from the parallel Equitix Energy Efficiency Fund (EEEF). Bester Generación UK Limited, part of the Bester Group, has been appointed engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor and has been awarded a long-term operations and maintenance (O&M) contract. Around 60 jobs will be created during construction of the plant, with 15 full-time positions created upon completion scheduled to be in March 2017.

Consisting of recycled wood waste, the fuel will be supplied by Hadfield Wood Recyclers with Czech biomass combustion specialists PBS Energo supplying the plant’s biomass boiler, flue gas cleaning system and electricity generation contract. Power will be exported to the grid and sold to ENGIE under a long-term power off-take agreement.

– Britain’s manufacturing businesses consume huge amounts of heat every year, much of it from non-renewable sources. Dual-purpose plants like Wrexham, which are capable of generating renewable electricity and heat for the benefit of local industry, play an important role in greening the UK economy. Heat isn’t just a bi-product of the electricity generation process; it is a valuable source of energy in itself, said Edward Northam, Head of Investment Banking, GIB.

BI87/5348/AS

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