Y Pellets Ltd, one of the UK's fastest growing independent wood pellet brands, has announced that it will invest GBP10 million (≈ EUR 11.3 million) into building a first-of-its-kind wood pellet production facility for the UK in Goole, East Yorkshire. Construction of the 50 000 tonne-per-annum design capacity plant is expected to begin imminently.
According to a statement, the state-of-the-art “wood refinery” plant will “revolutionise” supply to the UK’s biomass energy market as well as provide a boost to the region’s economy and wider “Northern Powerhouse” growth strategy. The plant will be the first-of-its-kind in the UK and only the second of its kind to be built – the first was commissioned by Yamuna GmbH in Austria in late 2017 and recently received its ENplus certification.
This is a massive investment for the UK’s biomass fuel market and the economy in general, both regionally and nationally. We’ve already employed the latest distribution technology delivering wood pellets to customers and by constructing the most advanced wood processing facility, we aim to grow our UK presence and continue to establish a market-leading company, said Neil Holland, Managing Director of Y Pellets and Director of ARC Applied Sciences.
The announcement is part of an ambitious and dedicated, long-term growth strategy which will see the Y Pellets brand significantly strengthen its presence within the UK biomass fuel market. It is anticipated to become one of the largest, private sector, renewable energy investment projects in the country over the forthcoming months.
50 000 tonnes per annum plant
The new “wood refinery” plant is to be built on a 5.9 acre (≈ 2.6 ha) development site at Goole 36, one of East Yorkshire’s largest and most high profile industrial and distribution enterprise zones. The company has worked in close partnership with the Homes & Communities Agency, investment management company, Downing’s LLP, and East Riding of Yorkshire Council over the last year in order to secure the site and obtain planning permission.
The land earmarked for development is close to Y Pellets’ existing storage facility in the Port of Goole and will make it one of the largest commercial enterprises situated within the industrial zone.
We currently operate a 5 000-tonne storage facility close by and having looked at several other locations around the country, we felt that development land at Goole 36 offered us a total, all-around solution in terms of manufacturing, warehouse, logistics and distribution. It’s a huge milestone for the organisation and a vital next step in its commercial growth plans, said Holland.
Work is estimated to take 14 months to complete, with the first phase of construction due to start on-site in spring 2018. It is anticipated that the first wood pellet production in the UK could be as early as March 2019 and once fully operational, the plant will reach its 50 000 tonnes-per-annum design capacity.
Proprietary woodfibre technology
Y Pellets currently imports its pellets to Goole from selected ENplus certified producers including from its affiliate Yamuna’s new 40 000 tonne-per-annum Austrian facility in Gars am Kamp, which was built using proprietary technology developed in Austria and licensed from ARC Applied Sciences.
The Goole wood refinery plant will essentially be identical to the Austrian plant using the same proprietary wood fibre processing technology from ARC Applied Sciences and pellet presses from Salmatec, explained Holland.
Unlike most pellet facilities, the plant in Goole, like the Austrian plant, will receive both softwood and hardwood feedstock supplied as roundwood. Wood supply contracts are already in place.
The wood fibre processing technology enables the use of a varied feedstock yet consistently produce a high-quality premium pellet. As well as the site, we’re also adopting and incorporating highly innovative, specialist technologies into our process systems which will allow us to apply a very forward-thinking approach to biomass fuel and raise the bar in terms of quality of product, industry standards and customer service, said Holland without revealing specific technical details.
The new “wood refinery” will significantly increase the organisation’s European manufacturing operations. Once construction is complete, ten new manufacturing jobs could be initially created within the first year, with additional employment also being created within the supply chain in the short-term during the construction and development stages.
Our vision is to become the leading supplier of premium, high-quality biomass wood pellets in the UK and Europe, and the new refinery will enable us to provide the best possible product manufactured from sustainably-sourced wood and produced by a local workforce, concluded Neil Holland.
