Stobart to build £110m biomass plant in UK

British infrastructure company Stobart has announced a plan to construct a £110m combined heat and power biomass plant (CHP Plant) in Widnes in northwest UK.

Stobart will own a 40% stake in the CHP plant, and Green Investment Bank, which is providing a £17m loan and investing £13.2m in the project, will hold 49%, while the remainder will be owned by Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC).

Danish firm BWSC is the engineering, procurement and construction contractor of the plant, which is expected to start operations in December 2016.

Stobart Energy has agreed to supply 146,000 tons of recycled waste wood to the CHP Plant annually over a period of16 years.

The 7.8MW CHP plant is expected to become operational in December 2016.

The clean energy generated at the plant will be used to power Stobart Energy’s wood drying facility.

It will be enough to cater to Stobart Energy’s fuel supply target of 2m tons per annum by 2017/18.

Stobart Energy & Infrastructure CEO Richard Butcher said: "This agreement secures an attractive energy investment for the Group and will contribute 24% of the growth we need to achieve our target of supplying two million tonnes of fuel per annum into the UK biomass market by 2017/18 from one million tonnes per annum at present.

"This CHP Plant will generate a strong return on investment in the plant’s equity as well as providing the Group with a 16-year biomass fuel supply contract, a long-term wood drying income stream and valuable engineering revenue on the development."