Letter: Biomass firm welcomes Bishop’s Castle decision
Tuesday 26th October 2010, 5:55AM BST.
Letter: Bishop’s Castle Biomass Power Ltd welcomes Shropshire Council’s confirmation of the decision to accept its offer for land at Crowgate, subject to further negotiations.
The combined heat and power plant will use woodchip to generate a substantial amount of renewable electricity, and heat will be available for the Community College, SpArC leisure centre, the church and businesses on the industrial estate.
Surplus heat will also be used to make wood pellets, which are becoming increasingly popular as an environmentally-friendly fuel.
The CHP plant will increase energy security by replacing imported fossil fuels and helping to fill the gap as older power stations are decommissioned.
Planning permission was granted after an eight-day public inquiry at which all the issues were thoroughly debated in front of a highly qualified independent inspector.
The persistent reference to the CHP plant as an incinerator, with obvious negative connotations, is an example of the desperate propaganda against the project that the protesters are using.
There are hundreds of similar plants operating all over northern Europe providing renewable energy without harming the environment.
It will produce local green electricity and heat as well as employment.
The Directors
BCBP Ltd
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And I’m sure you’ll be welcomed by the local residents with open arms.
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These people are on another Planet
1) If there are hundreds of plant operating on the continent why were the developers unable to name a single one at the inquiry.When asked to name one similar in the uk they could not although they used data
from a plant at Eccleshall sharing the same consulting engineer with their own scheme.
They also fail to understand that the continental plant are operated to much tigther pollution control standards.
2) They have repeatedly claimed that heat will provided to various adjacent properties. No such schme has been presente and worked up and no discsuins with potential users have taken place. The school governors have specfifically stated that they are not interested
3) There is a shortfall of woodchip in the UK so it is probable the fuel will be imported which is why mostpalnt are proposed near ports. In Denmark where chip is used 87% is imported.
4) Claims that there is a benefit to the electricty supply are not supported by the local supply company.
5) At last they seem to understand that energy crops are not permitted
6) This palnt has a very low ratio of employment to floor space compared to other potential uses being pushed out by this scheme
7) There own figures 13 MW in 2MW out. Do the math 15% truly appalling conversion of a scarce resource which when used for direct heating can run at 80% efficiency..they do in Denmark.
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What on earth are people complaining about – a CHP plant is one of the greenest forms of energy going – for crying out loud get a grip Bishops Castle – what a pathetic load of nimby nonsense
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TOM. You havn’t caught on. This scheme has a fuel use efficiency of 15%. THERE IS NO PROPOSAL FOR CHP WITHIN THE SUBMITTED SCHEME OTHER THAN A SMALL AMOUNT OF HEAT, UNSPECIFIED, FOR DRYING WOOD FOR PELLETS.
The developers claims that it is a heating scheme ARE only PR.
Before people make extravagant claims they should do the engineering work to see if the scheme is feasible and discuss with potential recipients the commercial aspects. None of this has been done.
CHP can be efficient. Continental schmems reach 80%+ but they prioritise heat output not generation and provide guarented supply. They are also much more tightly regulated.
Look up the auditors report on Caithness Combined Heat and Power CHaPs and discover where £13.9 million pounds of public money vanished ina failed woodburning scheme. Then come back to me.
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Fair point – I stand corrected – I understood it was a CHP local heating scheme (must not take things at face value ) – you have done your research well and now it paints a very different picture – sorry.
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Thanks for your honesty, Tom, but your initial reaction does illustrate a fundamental point about this whole issue – the Bishops Castle Group, of which Michael is a leading member, spent more than 3 years carefully researching the desirability of the proposed biomass plant in Bishops Castle and decided that it was a very bad idea. But when the Council’s Cabinet met to discuss the proposal to think again about selling the land to the developers, all the councillors bar one trotted out all the arguments which had been used by the developers from day one and completely ignored all the carefully researched information to the contrary.
Also, although the government inspector allowed the planning application, he imposed a lot of conditions – for example to monitor harmful emissions and excessive noise (it is after all right next to allotments, school playing fields and houses) but we have been told by senior council employees that the council just does not have the manpower and resources to enforce these conditions.
The more you find out about it – even if you’re a “Green” – the more you realise it’s a health and economic nightmare waiting to happen.
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I understand the plant is planning to create only four jobs? And that those four jobs are unlikely to go to locals because they are insufficiently skilled? How very patronising to the residents of the town.
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