New Biomass Plant at Longannet
ScottishPower is gaining community backing for a purpose built "Green Energy" power station in West Fife, Scotland.
The proposed 20 - 25 MW Biomass Power Station will co-fire Waste Derived Fuel (WDF) with waste wood to provide clean, renewable electricity for around 33,000 homes. This sustainable method of generation will also offset 134,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year and prevent 135,000 tonnes of materials being disposed to landfill sites. It will also help towards our aim of achieving at least 10% of electricity generation from renewables by 2010.
The multi million pound facility proposed for a brownfield site within the grounds of Longannet Power Station, could be fully operational by 2010.
However this is dependant on planning permission being granted by Fife Council. As part of the project development phase, the project team has sought to involve communities at an early stage. The outline proposal was first raised with local community councils in April 2006 before being displayed at public meetings in Kincardine, Culross and High Valleyfield in July. Most local people who attended the meetings were supportive of the venture and its aims, and agreed its location, at an existing generating site, was appropriate.
The proposed facility, that will feature state of the art technology to control emissions, will handle between 135,000 and 145,000 tonnes of biomass each year. Up to 70,000 tonnes of this biomass will be in the form of dried biosolids from the Daldowie Sludge Processing Plant in Glasgow. This plant is operated by SMW Ltd, a subsidiary of ScottishPower, which processes more than 2.3 million cubic metres of liquid sewage sludge each year from Greater Glasgow area into a dry granular fuel.
The remaining biomass will be made up of a combination of dried biosolids from other sludge processing plants and mixed waste wood of the type that is currently not recycled. The new facility would therefore provide a secure and sustainable alternative to disposal via landfill for these materials. The facility will employ fluidised bed technology - a type of furnace in which the combustion reactions are carried in a bed of hot, turbulent sand and ash and characterised by very high combustion efficiency - while advanced measures will be employed to limit emissions such as NOx and SOx, dust and heavy metals.
Going forward, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is currently being carried out. The findings of the Environmental Impact Assessment will be presented in an Environmental Statement that will accompany the Planning Application for the development that will be submitted to Fife Council early next year (2007). An application will also be made to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) early in 2007 for a Pollution Prevention Control (PPC) Permit. Project Manager Steven Marshall said: "The first
part in preparing the Environmental Impact Assessment is a scoping exercise that will identify the issues and concerns of statutory and non-statutory consultees and the local community.
"This consultation process will look at all aspects of the proposal and assess its impact on issues such as local wildlife, hydrology, air quality and its visual impact on the local landscape. Once completed, we will use this to inform our design process, providing us with the basis for carrying on with the completion of the Environmental Impact Assessment."
