The UK Green Investment Bank announced last week that it had teamed with Foresight Group to invest in the construction of a new waste wood Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facility in Widnes, Merseyside, in the North West of England.
The 20.2 MWe and 7.8 MWth facility will be powered by 146,000 tonnes of Grade B-C recovered wood each year, and will be the largest such facility in the North West, providing power to the grid enough to power the equivalent of 35,000 homes each year.
Expected to become operational in December of 2016, the £110 million project will be built on a 180-hectare plot just west of Liverpool, creating more than 200 construction jobs and 20 full-time operational jobs.
The heat generated by the facility will be used by Stobart’s adjacent wood drying facility, and deliver a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of around 1.3 million tonnes — that’s the equivalent of taking 30,000 cars off the road.
“This project is a great example of how we can build the next generation of energy and waste management infrastructure in a way that is green, cost-effective and highly efficient,” said Shaun Kingsbury, Chief Executive, UK Green Investment Bank. “This type of innovative infrastructure adds to our domestic electricity generation and reduces our carbon emissions.
A full infographic of the investment process and eventual use of the Widnes facility is available below.
“What is particularly important is that these projects are replicable and scalable,” Kingsbury added. “The Widnes project has been brought together by the team that supported a similar project in Northern Ireland and I hope we will see many more.”
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