Energy project passes milestone to keep on burning

Energy project passes milestone to keep on burning

A MAJOR Tees Valley renewable energy project has passed a significant milestone.

A massive boiler furnace has been lifted into place at the £60m Wilton 10 power station construction site at the Wilton International complex, near Redcar, east Cleveland.

Wilton 10 is a wood-burning, or biomass, power station which emits less carbon dioxide than traditional gas or coal-fired stations.
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At a height of 30m and weighing more than 185 tonnes, the operation to lift the boiler unit into a space, with just 12 inches of clearance on either side, took months to plan but just an hour to complete.

Work was carried out by a team from the station's owners, SembCorp Utilities UK, in conjunction with the boiler construction team from Foster Wheeler and its subcontractors.

Tony Lewis, Wilton 10 project director, said: "It was a technically challenging job carried out safely and successfully by a team from several companies working together in partnership."

The project - to build a 30MW power station fuelled by a variety of sources of wood - is beginning to take shape, and is now more than halfway through construction.

It is expected to be operational by next summer.

When operational, Wilton 10 will require about 300,000 tonnes of wood as its fuel every year.

About 40 per cent of this will be recycled wood, with the remaining 60 per cent being sourced in equal proportions from forestry management schemes in the north, sawmills and specially grown energy crops in the form of short rotation coppice grown throughout the region.