"I welcome the news that Oran Group’s plant in Kintore will be generating electricity for homes and businesses in the north east in the very near future. This is an exciting project that will help Scotland reach its target of producing 18 per cent of our electricity by 2010 from renewable sources"
Nicol Stephen, Scotland's Deputy First Minister
Scotland is to gain a new energy from waste plant and Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen has welcomed the news. The Plant is to be developed by the Oran Group at a cost of £24 million. The facility will be located on a 130 acre site in Kintore, Aberdeenshire and will come into operation late in 2008.
The plant will use biomass materials including wood, dried sludge pellets, sludge cake, and meat and bone-meal to generate energy. This facility will be one of the first in Scotland to generate energy using meat and bone-meal, which will be produced at the Group’s modern rendering plant, located on the same site.
Earlier this month , the facility was granted a connection to the national grid for the export of energy provided from the efw process. The renewable energy plant will export sufficient energy to provide electricity for up to 9,000 homes.
Key benefits
The Oran Group say that the plant will provide a number of important benefits including:
- A long-term outlet for biomass fuels
- Effective reduction of carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming through transport emission savings
- Power generation 365 days a year
- Capacity to export up to 9.99 MW to the national grid, enough for 9,000 households
- Local employment, creating up to 25 skilled posts
- Reduction of costs for local agricultural
Comments
Nicol Stephen, Deputy First Minister
After visiting the Kintore site, the Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen said:
“I welcome the news that Oran Group’s plant in Kintore will be generating electricity for homes and businesses in the north east in the very near future. This is an exciting project that will help Scotland reach its target of producing 18 per cent of our electricity by 2010 from renewable sources.”
Ben Ballantyne, General Manager UK of Oran Group said:
"This is an important project for Scotland for various reasons. The Oran Group will use biomass materials produced in Scotland as renewable fuels to generate a constant supply of power."
"Some of the biomass materials are currently transported long distances from the North East by lorry, so it will be hugely beneficial to the environment to use them locally whilst meeting environmental obligations such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Renewable Fuels Directive."
"At the same time, by combining the use of the Group’s modern rendering plant and renewable energy plant, operating costs for local abattoirs will be significantly reduced. And for Aberdeenshire the £24m investment that will provide new highly skilled jobs for the area."
Gordon Liberal Democrat MSP Nora Radcliffe said:
The Kintore rendering and renewable energy plants are a “great boost for the North East and Scotland”.
She continued, “This is good news all round for the local area. The Kintore plant will bring jobs, but just as importantly it will turn animal by-products into much needed renewable energy. This is a perfect example of new thinking on environmental issues by industry that will help Scotland reduce its carbon output and become a greener place.”