FW: Tilbury power station 100% biomass retrofit
Chris Hodrien
CCC visit to Tilbury power station
September 15, 2011
http://www.theccc.org.uk/blog/2011/09/15/ccc-visit-to-tilbury-power-station/
in Uncategorized <http://www.theccc.org.uk/blog/categoty/uncategorized/>
by Committee on Climate Change
<http://www.theccc.org.uk/blog/author/committee-on-climate-change/>
By Indra Thillainathan, Senior Analyst
With new European environmental legislation set to close many existing coal
fired power stations by 2015, work is already underway by Tilbury power
station to convert it into one of the world's largest dedicated biomass
generators . Ahead of its scheduled re-commissioning in November, a few
members of the CCC made a visit to the Essex based plant earlier this month
to see how work was progressing.
The 1,050MW coal fired Tilbury 'B' plant had been generating electricity
since 1967. However, EU legislation to reduce emissions under the Large
Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD) prompted the owner, RWE npower to look at
options that could extend the life of the plant. Work for the first phase
will see a switching of feedstock from coal to biomass, with a generating
capacity of 750MW (=29% down-rating). Life cycle CO2 emissions are expected
to be around 80% lower than for a similar sized coal fired power station.
However, as Nigel Staves, the station manager pointed out, the plant will
still* be required to close under the LCPD unless a secondary more
comprehensive and costlier programme of works is carried out in order to
meet 'new'- plant regulations. Npower is currently looking at options to do
this.
<http://www.theccc.org.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Tilbury1.jpg>
inside 55 metre high furnace
Located on the Thames Estuary, Tilbury will rely on imported sources of wood
pellets that will be delivered to its own jetty. The issue of
sustainability was at the forefront of everyone's minds, given the large
volume of biomass feed that it expects to consume each year. But with feed
derived from pine beetle-damaged wood and timber residues from British
Columbia and Georgia in the USA, npower are satisfied that the feedstock
under the first phase will be sustainable. Should the second phase proceed,
npower is undertaking R&D into alternative feeds to forestry materials.
These alternative feeds are not expected to become available until the next
decade or two.
Although the plant was closed for the conversion, a tour of the site enabled
us to see up close some of the technology involved in the process of
generating electricity. This included standing inside one of the vast 55m
high furnaces where temperatures can reach up to 1,100 degrees to heat
re-circulating purified water to produce high pressure steam to drive the
turbine. Our tour ended in the control room of the plant.
<http://www.theccc.org.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Tilbury-team1.jpg>
control room at Tilbury Power Plant
*** The CCC's Bioenergy review will be released at the end of 2011. This
will include our detailed assessment of investment in biomass power
generation, focussing on technical feasibility, economics and availability
of biomass supply.
Nick Balmer
This follows RWE's similar moves in Germany where they have been
buying up biomass and feeding a small amount (circa 5%) into coalfired
power stations to meet regulatory drivers over the adoption of non
fossil fuels.
This has had the effect of pushing up biomass prices to domestic
customers across central Europe. This is discouraging many from
adopting local pellet fired boilers which are far more sustainable in
middle Europe than the big biomass plants.
I totally agree with you that it is a great pity that the heat will
almost certainly be wasted from this refitted Tilbury Plant.
I subscribe to a news service that links overseas wood chip providers
to potential markets around the World, and I have been very stuck by
just how much the price has hardened this autumn.
The price fluctuates with the seasons and is often in the 50 to 60
Euros per tonne for chips at this time of the year rising towards 85
in January and February before dropping.
This year it is already over 110 Euros / tonne, and you pay shipping on top.
It is amazing just how far away these biofuels are likely to coming
from, to Europe. I am getting offers of biomass from places like
Vietnam and the Philippines, and these compete with the Ukraine. I
hate to think what this trade is doing to the forests and soil in
those countries. I witnessed at first hand the destruction of forests
in Sarawak and Sabah. It is simply awful, and the harm will persist
for centuries.
Tilbury has a very large coal unloader that about 7 or 8 years ago
(when I was trying to tender for its replacement) was handling South
African Brown Coal. I think it was about 20,000 tonnes a boat load
once very 10 to 14 days. (I am quoting from memory so I might be
wrong.)
It struck me as mad at the time that we were digging up sequestrated
CO2 and bringing it all from South Africa when in Essex there is
around 350,000 tpa of low grade bio-degradable material arising in
municipal waste.
There is probably 200,000 more in the East London Borough's.
There is also a huge amount of woodland in private and public hands in
the south of England that is currently in a very poor state with
rapidly declining bio-diversity because it hasn't been managed
properly since 1918, that could provide substantial amounts of CHP if
it were burnt locally in and around our communities in modern
decentralised CHP.
So while I am pleased to see Tilbury weaned off South African and
Polish coal, I don't think the replacement is a very good replacement
option.
Nick Balmer