Contract milestone for Scotland’s largest biomass power plant, RWE

Release Date: 2010-02-03

RWE npower renewables has announced its key contractors for the £200 million, state of the art, biomass combined heat and power plant at Markinch in Fife. Metso (Finland) and Aker Solutions (Norway) have been appointed as main contractors to take forward the project. Metso, a global supplier of technology and services for a variety of industries, will provide the site’s main biomass boiler. Aker Solutions, a leading provider of engineering and construction services and part of Aker Solutions ASA, will project manage construction, provide support services and procure some of the plant equipment

RWE npower renewables is working in partnership with paper maker Tullis Russell to supply its plant with steam and electricity from the new biomass facility. The plant, which will be the biggest of its kind in Scotland, will have an installed capacity of 50 MW and will replace the existing coal-fired power plant at Tullis Russell.

Stephan Lohr, RWE head of biomass said: "The combined skills and expertise of our chosen contractors Metso and Aker Solutions will be a major asset during the construction of the new Tullis Russell biomass power plant. Whilst initial groundwork has begun, construction will begin in earnest later this year and the power plant is scheduled for operation in late 2012".

The development, announced in July 2008, was backed by First Minister Alex Salmond. It received £8.1 million support via the Scottish Government’s Regional Selective Assistance grant, established to support the creation of new jobs.

The plant will reduce Tullis Russell's Markinch site carbon footprint by 72%, helping to reduce Scotland's annual carbon emissions at the paper maker by 250,000 tonnes per annum.

Chris Parr, CEO of Tullis Russell Group, commented: "This project heralds significant economic and environmental benefits for Scotland. As well as helping to secure over 500 jobs at Tullis Russell it will create over 50 permanent jobs in the operation of the power plant and a new biomass fuel processing facility, and as many as 400 further jobs during the construction phase. The removal of 250,000 tonnes of fossil fuel C02 each year from our local environment will make an enormous contribution to our relentless efforts to minimise the environmental impact of our operation on the local community."

Type:	NORMAL
Company:	RWE
Country:	Germany