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Scotland 'Lumbers' toward a $710M Wood Biomass Heat-power Plant
Green Technology Featured Articles
June 05, 2013

Scotland 'Lumbers' toward a $710M Wood Biomass Heat-power Plant

By Cheryl Kaften
TMCnet Contributor

A new wood biomass power plant approved for a Scottish seaport will "responsibly" source its fuel, using only environmentally certified wood that is not linked to deforestation, Energy Minister Fergus Ewing promised this week.

What is environmentally certified wood? Forest certification programs typically require tree management practices conform to existing laws—as well as protection of biodiversity, species at risk and wildlife habitat; sustainable harvest levels; protection of water quality; and prompt regeneration (replanting and reforestation). They offer third-party audits performed by accredited certification bodies, such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).


According to the UPI news agency, Ewing announced planning approval Monday for a $710 million combined power-heat biomass generator at the Port of Grangemouth on the River Forth, which will produce as much as 120 megawatts (MW) of electricity—the equivalent of the amount needed to light around 130,000 homes. 



Above, lumber at Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK, from Torlundy in Lochaber. (Image via Shutterstock)

It also will be aimed at industrial users with 200 MW of thermal heat, thus making "a valuable contribution to Scotland's ambitions to decarbonize electricity generation," stated Ewing.

The plant, which is expected to be operational by 2017, will create 70 permanent jobs and up to 500 during the three-year construction phase.

Environmentalists have raised objections over the effects of large-scale biomass generators on shrinking global biodiversity, international deforestation, air pollution, human rights and other concerns.

"In consenting [to] this application I have put in place a series of conditions to protect local residents from inconvenience, safeguard the appearance of the area, and protect the environment and air quality," Ewing said. "The conditions to the consent also ensure that the fuel used in the biomass is from sustainable and responsible sources."

However, the Grangemouth approval has elicited criticism from the Scottish Green Party. Alison Johnstone member of Scottish Parliament for Lothian, told the BBC news network that the government had "made a poor decision, and should instead be supporting genuinely sustainable heat and power at a local level. Chopping down swathes of foreign forest to burn in Scotland is plain daft."




Edited by Alisen Downey


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