Sept. 2, 2010

Irish firm receives permission to build wood energy plant in England [From the web]

ENFIELD, ENGLAND, Sept. 2, 2010 (Local news source) - Irish renewable energy firm Kedco has received planning permission to develop a 12 MW waste wood biomass-gasification facility at a site in Enfield, North London.

Permission for the plan, which the company expects to cost £45 million to develop, was granted earlier this week (August 31) by Enfield council. The planning approval means that Kedco can now begin securing funding for the plant.

The facility is expected to be able to treat up to 60,000 tonnes-a-year of waste wood from the construction and demolition sectors once it becomes operational, producing 12 MW of electricity and 10 MW of heat.

And, the company has already agreed a 10-year feedstock agreement with an unnamed local waste operator. According to documents published by the Greater London Authority, the waste wood will be sourced from sites within a five mile radius of the proposed Enfield site.

Kedco is currently in discussions with two potential purchasers for heat produced from the Enfield site. And, the ability to convert waste wood to feedstock on site is said to help cut down the number of lorry movements needed around the Enfield site.

Commenting on the approval, Donal Buckley, chief executive of Kedco, said: "We believe that the biomass clean-tech sector is currently at the same stage as the wind industry was five years ago. This represents an enormous opportunity for growth for Kedco."

He added: "We believe that the granting of this consent shows the commitment of the Greater London Authority and Enfield council to the biomass sector within London."

In addition, the Irish company said it has received notification from the Greater London Authority that they will not refuse planning consent for the gasification plant.

Proposal

Kedco said it should be able to deliver the plant to an operational level 18 months after the funding for the facility is in place. And, if the operation runs as expected, Kedco said it would be capable of generating around £9 million of income per year before tax, intangibles, deductions and moralizations.

Environmental consultancy services firm London Remade Solutions (LRS) Consultancy is working with Kedco to gain environmental permits for the site, having helped the company identify and a site and develop their proposal.

The Irish renewable energy firm comprises of two divisions: Kedco Power, which focuses on electrical power generation and Kedco Vudlande, which is a Latvia-based subsidiary producing biomass and wood products. And, the firm said Kedco Vudlande could be used as a backup fuel supply for Kedco-operated biomass facilities.

In addition to its work on biomass and gasification, Kedco has signed a working agreement with German biogas technology company AgriKomp GmbH to develop anaerobic digestion facilities for agricultural waste to be rolled-out across the UK and Ireland.

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