Scotland could get four new biomass plants

Working with Forth Ports, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) is proposing to build four dedicated biomass power stations in several locations across Scotland.

The development will be led by Forth Energy, a joint venture of the two firms created in 2008. Forth Energy expects to seek consent next year for the construction of biomass plants at four Forth Ports’ sites: Dundee, Leith, Rosyth and Grangemouth.

The total generating capacity of the four plants would be around 400 megawatts, enough to power more than 900,000 homes. The stations could also produce heat to be used at other facilities at the Forth Ports sites and, potentially, other neighbouring sites. The plants would be fuelled mainly by softwood sourced from sustainably-managed forests in the UK and overseas.

Scottish and Southern Energy already owns and operates an 80-megawatt dedicated biomass plant at Slough in Berkshire.

“Creating Forth Energy was designed to give us a new series of opportunities to pursue sustainable energy developments, and these proposals come in to that category,” said Ian Marchant, chief executive of Scottish and Southern Energy.  “It is clear that biomass will play an increasingly important role in energy production over the next 10 years and it is an area in which SSE expects to be a significant player.”