Kelda's manure power not to be sniffed at
Date: 09-Feb-00
Country: UK
The Yorkshire, north of England-based regional water company's
subsidiary, First Renewables, is taking a 31 percent initial equity
stake in Fibro Holdings, parent of Fibrowatt, which specialises in
biomass generation.
Biomass fuels, mainly waste agricultural products surplus to fertilizer
requirements, are marketed as environmentally friendly alternatives to
traditional power generation.
The British government has said it wants 10 percent of electricity
supplies to come from green sources as part of its push to reduce
greenhouse gas emmissions.
"The future of biomass is exciting because its one type of power that
goes on for ever," said Fibrowatt managing director Rupert Fraser. "It's
basically stored solar power."
Fibrowatt's three UK power stations with a combined capacity of about 65
megawatts were built to burn poultry litter - mainly manure from
intensively reared chickens and turkeys that has to be disposed of at
the end of every six week production cycle.
But the generators can use a range of biomass products. One of them is
currently under contract to burn cattle carcases slaughtered in
Britain's anti-BSE programme.
Kelda plans to invest a further 2.5 million pounds in Firbowatt to
finance development in the U.S., where some 20 million tonnes a year of
poultry litter is produced compared with just 1.5 million in the UK.
"We see the U.S as a major opportunity", said Firt renewable Managing
Director Doug Everard who expects to meld any U.S. manure power
development through the group's recently acquired U.S. water business
Aquarion. Fibrowatt claims pioneer status in the production of renewable
electricity from the combustion of poultry litter.
Its plant at Thetford in Norfolk generates 38.5 MW and is the largest
biomass renewable energy power station in Europe.
Kelda's First Renewables is itself in the process of completing the
construction of the 10MW Arbre Project, the world's first coppiced
willow gasification plant.
