Green light given for Dorset’s first £12 million biomass plant

Dorset is to get its first biomass power plant providing ‘clean’ energy for thousands of homes.

Planners have given the green light to the £12 million plant on the outskirts of Christchurch.

It will burn 25,000 tonnes of waste wood every year and generate up to 3 MW of electricity.

The electricity will be sent to the National Grid and be enough to power more than 5,000 local homes.

Eco Sustainable Solutions officially submitted a planning application for the plant in July 2007.

It was approved by Dorset County Council’s Planning Committee on July 15 2011, more than four years later.

Trelawney Dampney, Eco’s Managing Director, said: “This is a great day for Dorset and for all those who believe in green and sustainable energy.”

He added, “Biomass plants make environmental and economic sense and we’re delighted that, finally, we have received approval for our proposal.”

The biomass generating station will be built on Eco’s existing composting and wood recycling site at Parley.

Work is expected to start later this year and take up to eighteen months to complete with the plant likely to be in full operation in early 2013.

Biomass plants were highlighted in the 2006 Stern Report on Global Warming as a way of tackling climate change.

They burn wood products but in a way that is carbon neutral and, therefore, does not contribute towards global warming.

Eco’s biomass generator will be fuelled by wood taken by the public to household recycling centres which already arrives at the Parley site to be chipped.

Currently Eco ships the wood chips overseas to countries such as Sweden where they are used as fuel to generate electricity, a situation Mr Dampney has described in the past as “complete madness.”

Eco’s plans were welcomed when they first went out for local consultation in 2006 with groups such as Friends of the Earth backing the proposal.

Mr Dampney said: “The reaction was overwhelmingly positive. The truth is that biomass plants are green-friendly and provide ‘clean’ power.

“It’s a win-win for everyone and we’re now looking forward to starting work on the plant and getting it up and running as quickly as possible.”