Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

North American corporations and investors are said to be following events with interest and could trigger a multi-million dollar biomass boom for the UK.

The ‘panda’ power initiative would involve burning miscanthus – a form of bamboo that could be produced in record volume thanks to a new, growth enhancing machine currently under development.

Steve Todd, of Antrim based company Staamalo, said a multi-disciplined consortium had been pulled together for the project by England-based green power guru, Graham Sparks.

Todd said: "We visited Ely Power Station, which currently burns straw, and it was established that there could be major benefits in burning miscanthus and that they could burn it.

"A government grant has now been received and we are building what we call a rotogrow machine that is a major crop growth enhancer. Basically farmers throughout the UK could use these machines to grow miscanthus in bulk and sell it on to power players all over the world, not just in Cambridgeshire.

"There has been a lot of interest from North America in the possibilities for this venture. The prototype machine will take us around 10 months to create.

"Then we will go into field trials and further refinements in the product development stage. Everyone involved is very excited about the possibilities."

The uses for bamboo are many. Bamboo charcoal makes a good fuel, and because it is three times as porous as wood, it also removes odours effectively.

When burned, bamboo releases more energy than wood. In common with certain other potential energy crops, non-fuel applications of bamboo biomass may be actually more profitable than energy recovery, although these other applications might be used as a means of supplementing the income of bamboo bioenergy growers.

Ely Power Station is owned by Energy Power Resources (EPR), owner of one of the largest and most diverse portfolios of plant in the UK, having generated over 10 per cent of the UK’s Renewables Obligation electricity during 2003/04.

EPR took over the operation and maintenance of Ely Power Station in June 2004 from the plant constructor, FLS Miljo. From the outset EPR’s intention has been to burn a wider range of fuels, opening up the potential for reducing fuel costs and increasing security of supply.

According to EPR the 38MW north Cambridgeshire power station is already the largest straw burning plant in the world, generating over 270 gigawatt hours (GWh) each year, and has planning permission for further expansion.

The station burns over 200,000 tonnes of cereal straw per annum, the fuel largely supplied by EPR subsidiary, Anglia Straw. However, the plant also has the capability to burn up to 10 per cent natural gas and a range of other biofuels including oil seed rape and miscanthus.

EPR also owns and operates two other major power stations in East Anglia. Thetford at 38.5MW is the largest chicken litter fuelled plant in the world and is Europe’s largest biomass fuelled electricity generator.

The plant is located at the centre of England’s poultry producing region and consumes 420,000 tonnes of litter each year. The litter sourcing is managed by a dedicated EPR team.

The other plant is the 12.7MW power station based at Eye in Norfolk. It is believed to be the world’s first poultry litter fuelled generating plant and consumes 160,000 tonnes p.a. of chicken litter. EPR was acquired by Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund (MEIF) Renew-able Energy Limited in March 2005.

o Steve Todd is happy to provide farmers in the East of England with details on the potential for the new technology and can be contacted on 02838 891201.