The Importance of Flexibility in Biomass

Supply ChainsDave Sanderson 06/09/2019

26.11.2018Author

Ironbridge Coal Fired Conversion

Blackburn Meadows Renewable Energy Plant

Steven’s Croft Renewable Energy Plant

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Agenda

Ironbridge B Power Station - Telford

• Parliamentary approval 1962.• Began construction in 1963.• Two 500 MW units.• Burning 100% coal.• First electrical generation 1967.• Supply to national grid 1969.• Full generation 1972.• Initially owned by CEGB then Powergen.• E.ON acquired Powergen and its assets in 2001.

Biomass Conversion

• Station opted out of Large Combustion Plant directive giving it up to 20,000 hours of generation post 2008 and having to close by December 2015 at the latest.• E.ON took the decision to convert the station to 100% wood pellets.• Each unit downgraded to 370MW.• Wood pellet demand for each unit approximately 1M tonnes per year.• Investment decision predicated on the entire fuel supply being under contract through to December 2015.• 10,000T onsite storage

Supply Chain Investments – 500KT per Year

• Pellet production plant $150M.• Port handling facilities $100M.• Harvesting, rail (overseas and domestic) and shipping.

Liverpool Bulk Terminal

• E.ON operated facility at The Port of Liverpool.• Originally used to import coal for E.ON’s northern coal fired power stations.• Dedicated rail spur.• Converted to a wood pellet importing facility.• Unloading rate 10KT per day.• Train load rate 250T per hour.• Covered storage capacity 35KT.

Video 4th February 2014

Supply Chain Consequences

• 45,000T of UK storage.• Fuel contracted through to December 2015 circa 85KT per month.• Contract values around $300M.• Limited contract flexibility.• Limited supply chain flexibility due to the return requirements of the capital invested in the supply chains.• No liquid market to sell unrequired fuel into.• Heavy demurrage charges .• Loss making sales.• Contract washouts.

Ironbridge Biomass Conversion

Blackburn Meadows Renewable Energy Plant

Steven’s Croft Renewable Energy Plant

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B

C

Agenda

• Commercial operation 2014.• 33MW• District heating network• 10MW Battery• 200KT per year recycled wood single supplier and very flexible contract.

• 50 acre processing and storage site 15 miles from station.• 65KT storage capacity.• Equivalent to 4 months consumption.• Effectively mitigates seasonal supply chain fluctuations and planned and unplanned station outages.

Hazelhead Processing Facility

Ironbridge Coal Fired Conversion

Blackburn Meadows Renewable Energy Plant

Steven’s Croft Renewable Energy Plant

A

B

C

Agenda

Steven’s Croft Fuel Mix

• Sawmill Residues – clean from debarked logs

• Sawdust

• Chip

• Forest Products

• Low quality logs – clean but do contain bark

• Harvesting residues – In small amounts, can cause

quality issues.

• Recycled Wood – Industrial and Municipal

• Energy Crops – trialled but not competitive

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Sawmill Residues and Forest Products

80%

Recycled Wood20%

Steven's Croft Fuel Mix

Steven’s Croft Power Station• Commissioned 2008.

• 44MWe and 6MWt

• 450KT per year 80% virgin fibre, 20% recycled wood.

• Very flexible contract

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Single Supplier Strategy

• Complete traceability for quality, simplified sampling and analysis.

• Complete traceability for sustainability. Steven’s Croft is in receipt of 2 ROCs per MW hour generated. To receive this subsidy the fuel supply must meet OFGEM’s stringent sustainability criteria which is FSC, PEFC or equivalent.

• Supplier is diversified and of a scale to cope with disruptions in the supply chain and station generation.

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Company Overview

• Business founded in mid 1960’s by Allan Jenkinson

• Manage + 3.5 million tonnes of assorted wood fibre materials

• Employ over 2,500 people across the A.W. Jenkinson group businesses

• Head Office based in Clifton, Penrith with over 30 operational facilities throughout the UK

• Modern fleet of specialised vehicles

A.W. Jenkinson Transport Ltd has the largest walking floor fleet in Europe 600+ and 40 dedicated roundwood haulage vehicles made up of 30 self-loading and 10 skeletal trailers

AWJFP Mobile Chipping Fleet

A.W. Jenkinson has made significant investment in a fleet of Mobile Chipper Units which have thecapacity to process up to 8,000 tonnes of material per week.

Virgin Wood Residue Processing Locations

Kinnoir

Blantyre

Clifton Wilton

Berite

• UK Wide Network

• Capacity for growth

• Ability to accept a range of incoming materials

• Situated close to our end markets

• Further sites in the pipeline

South London

Whitchurch

Recycled Fibre Processing Locations

AWJWW Kinnoir

A&A Meriden

AWJWW Hespin Wood

A&A Bentley

AWJWW Bo’ness

SWWP Swindon

AWJWW Aberdeen

AWJWW Glasgow

SWWP Glastonbury

SWWP Swansea

SWWP Winkleigh

A&A Meriden