By Diarmaid Williams 

 

Siemens is to perform an upgrade on the combined heat and power facility of an innovative biomass plant in North West England.

 

The contract is for a performance upgrade of two small-scale steam turbines which power the company’s carbon-neutral biomass combustion plants at PDM Widnes in Cheshire.

PDM Group, part of Saria Bio-Industries is a waste management and recycling company and the UK’s largest food-chain by-product recycler.

Energy produced by this process is sold into the National Grid. The new contract with Siemens is focused on upgrades which will improve plant performance and enable PDM to qualify for Government CHP (combined heat and power) incentives. The contract is part of a larger plant modernisation project.

Siemens worked with PDM from early 2011 to develop the best solution to meet requirements. The current project involves modernisation of the plant and upgrades and modifications, including new nozzle rings, turbine wheels and valve seats for the two small steam turbines (1.2 MW and 3.2 MW).

 

Commissioning is expected by the end of December 2012.