Business to Benefit from Involvement in Sembcorp Green Power Scheme

12th August 2005

Commercial landowners in the north east are being encouraged to play a part in a major environmental initiative – and improve their financial performance at the same time.

Sembcorp Utilities UK, through partners Greenergy and Refa, is looking for business landowners within a 50-mile radius of the Wilton International site to grow Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) crops to be used in a new £60 million renewable energy power station.

The Wilton 10 station, currently under construction at the Wilton International site on Teesside, will be operational by 2007 and aims to generate around 30 MW of electricity – enough to power 30,000 homes – by burning up to 300,000 tonnes of wood a year as fuel.

The wood will come from a variety of sources, but by 2011 around 20 per cent needs to be sourced locally from landowners prepared to grow SRC, willow that can grow quickly on a range of sites.

Around 7,500 acres of growth is needed within 50 miles of the site – the equivalent of 5,000 football pitches.

Many north east farmers have already taken the decision to diversify into SRC growth – adding a new source of income to their operations. The coppice requires little maintenance once planted and is harvested on a three or four-year cycle.

Now Sembcorp is contacting some of its major industrial partners in the area to encourage their involvement too. The benefits include:

• A chance to be directly associated with the UK’s biggest biomass project - praised by many, including environmentalists.
• An opportunity to put unused or underused parts of their sites to an environmentally beneficial use.
• A long-term contract with Greenergy, backed by a secure market in Sembcorp’s Wilton 10 power station
• An opportunity to bring in additional revenue
• Government grant assistance with planting costs
• Practical assistance during planting, growth and harvesting from Greenergy through locally based Refa (Renewable Energy From Agriculture).

Tony Lewis, Sembcorp’s Wilton 10 Project Director, said: “There’s a real opportunity here for local companies to do something that will be good for their businesses and the environment.”

Anyone interested in getting involved or simply seeking more details should contact Robin Twizell, Managing Director of Refa, who is responsible for managing new contracts for supply of SRC on behalf of Greenergy, a low carbon energy company.