Building work has started at Markinch, the UK’s largest biomass plant.
The combined heat and power plant, located in Fife, Scotland, will burn wood residues and green wood from sustainable sources, and will supply papermaker Tullis Russel with electricity and industrial process steam.
Construction of the €235 million plant will be completed in two years. When operational, the facility will have an installed output of 50 MW and will be able to deliver up to 120 tonnes/hour of industrial steam.
The Markinch plant will replace an existing coal-fired power plant that dates back 60 years. Carbon emissions from the site will therefore be reduced by around 250 000 tonnes per year, says owner RWE Innogy.
RWE’s two main contractors are Finland’s Metso and Norway-based Aker Solutions.
The project has received €9 million of funding from the Scottish government.
