A West Midlands firm is playing a key role in a project to build the UK's largest biomass power station
The Birmingham branch of engineering and transport consultants Mott MacDonald is assisting with a major contract to build a power station which will supply sustainable energy for Scotland.
Eon UK's E130,000 plant, at Steven's Croft near Lockerbie, will burn wood to provide 44 megawatts of power, supplying around 70,000 homes.
Engineers from Mott MacDonald in Birmingham will provide a vital role, inspecting machinery that goes to make up this ground-breaking plant. They will visit factories around Europe, witnessing factory acceptance tests and inspections of major plant items.
The power station is being built by Eon UK, the company that runs Powergen, and will burn annually around 475,000 tonnes of sustainable wood, including willow specially planted and harvested in the area around Dumfries and Galloway. It will provide up to 40 jobs directly, as well as safeguarding work in forestry and farming.
Mott MacDonald project manager Colin Corfield said: "It is exciting to be involved in the UK's largest biomass power station, especially when there is such a pressing need to find and use sustainable energy."
Mott MacDonald's Birmingham-based inspections team work on a wide variety of projects including a nickel mine in Canada and a gas-fuelled power station in Dubai.
Inspections on the Lockerbie project will start in the next two months.
Mott MacDonald's Birmingham office has some 300 staff; its 70-strong transportation team delivers transport, planning and data services to the seven West Midland metropolitan authorities.
