November 11, 2013 – Manchester based renewable energy company Imperative Energy Ltd (“IEL”) today announced that Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (“SMBC”) has granted the company planning consent to build a 17.75MWe biomass fired combined heat and power (“CHP”) plant at Pendigo Way, Solihull.  This £70m investment will generate heat and power for a number of local energy users.

 

Imperative Energy Ltd has over 60 biomass installations across Ireland and the UK and its major shareholder is the Northwest Fund for Energy & Environment (“NWF4EE”), a European Investment Bank (“EIB”) and European Regional development Fund (“ERDF”) backed fund, managed by 350Investment Partners LLP.  Welcoming the decision by the Council, Managing Director Joe O’Carroll outlined the benefits of the project: “In addition to the 140 jobs during the initial 2.5 years construction phase of this landmark, low-carbon energy centre, 25 new and sustainable high skill jobs will be created to operate the plant.  Over the life of the plant £420m will be spent on local good and services.”

 

The project will use c130,000 tonnes of local sourced wastewood which is normally landfilled or exported for energy generation in Scandinavia.  An interesting inclusion in the design is a visitors’ centre which the promoters would use to educate people on the biomass supply chain, the installed technology and benefits of bioenergy in the UK’s energy mix.

 

 

 

The Environmental Infrastructure Development Company (“EIDC”) is a shareholder in IEL and is managing the structuring and project finance aspects of this exciting development.

 

IEL is working with M+W UK as its chosen Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (“EPC”) contractor.  Based in Chippenham, M+W UK is part of the M+W Group, an 8,000 employee leading global engineering, design and construction company which celebrated its 100^th year in business last year and enjoys an annual turnover of over €2.3 billion.