CHP plant

RWE npower Cogen - the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) division of RWE npower - is to build a 45MW biomass CHP plant at Markinch in Scotland.

An £8.1m Regional Selective Assistance grant from the Scottish government has been awarded to help fund the project.

The new facility will supply steam and electricity to the paper mill owned by Tullis Russell Papermakers under a long-term contract. The paper mill currently uses a coal-fired plant to provide the steam and electricity needed to produce its products.

Chris Parr, Tullis Russell’s chief executive, said: 'The new plant will replace our existing coal-fired CHP plant and allow us to use steam and electricity produced from renewable fuel, reducing our carbon emissions by approximately 250,000 tonnes per year.'

RWE npower Cogen and Tullis Russell hope to secure all necessary approvals by the end of 2008 with the CHP plant entering operation in 2011.

The project will add 45MW of CHP capacity to RWE npower’s existing CHP portfolio. RWE npower owns 11 CHP plants on key customer sites supplying power and heat to industrial customers in the oil, paper and chemical sectors.