Drax agrees pioneering deal to receive biomass fuel by train
Wednesday 23 December 2009
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| First GBRf will operate four train services a day, taking a variety of biomass from the Port of Tyne to Drax Power Station |
Drax Power has signed a deal to transport more than one million tonnes per year of biomass to its co-firing power station by train, in a move which it claims will lower its ‘field to furnace' emissions by as much as 80%.
Under the agreement, which will start in 2010, rail freight company First GBRf will operate four train services a day, taking a variety of biomass from the Port of Tyne to Drax Power Station near Selby, North Yorkshire.
Drax has set itself a target of producing 12.5% of its output from renewables by mid-2010 and the power station has been co-firing biomass since a trial in 2004.
In recent weeks, a purpose-built facility that takes straw from local farmers and converts it to pellets has also been supplying the co-firing plant.
Plans for a £700 million dedicated biomass plant next to the site were approved by local planners in November (see this NewEnergyFocus.com story), with a final decision on the 290MW facility set to be taken by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in 2010. If approved, the company hopes that the plant will be complete in 2013.
First GBRf will introduce a number of specially modified coal hopper wagons with cover to carry the fuel, which will consist of a wide variety of biomass including purpose grown energy crops, forestry residues, agricultural by-products and a small proportion of recovered timber and paper.
Drax Power has pledged that all biomass for its dedicated plant will be from sustainable sources that are independently audited. Much of this will be imported, but Drax said that by establishing the plants and the straw pellet facility it hoped to kick-start a UK biomass supply chain.
Dorothy Thompson, chief executive of Drax, said she firmly believed that sustainable biomass had an important role to play in the future energy mix of the country.
She added that the deal would make an important contribution towards reducing the power station's emissions.
"Through our sustainability policy we aim to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 70% compared to coal-fired generation through substituting coal with biomass," she said.
"Emissions due to transportation are a key consideration when we calculate the ‘field to furnace' impact of the biomass we source.
"Our agreement with First GBRf to move biomass by rail makes an important contribution to our commitment to reduce not only our carbon footprint, but the carbon footprint of UK generation."
First
John Smith, managing director at First GBRf, said the company would be the first rail freight operator to carry biomass by rail.
He said that by doing so, First GBRf was not only opening up a new market to the freight industry, but also making a significant environmental contribution.
He added: "At First GBRf we are always investigating new ways of reducing our carbon footprint and we are thrilled to be working with Drax and assisting them to increase the amount of electricity created from a renewable source and further reduce CO2 emissions."
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