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Tadcaster biomass plant shut down over smoke fears
HEINEKEN UK has been forced to shut down its new £17.5m biomass power station at its Tadcaster John Smith's brewery over fears excessive smoke is affecting nearby residents.
The biomass plant, which burns locally sourced woodchip to generate electricity and steam to power the site, was hailed a "key milestone" in Heineken's commitment to cut its carbon footprint by 30,000 tonnes when it launched the plant in November.
But after just three months of operation, the plant is said to be producing excessive smoke to the detriment of nearby Tadcaster residents.
A Heineken UK spokesman said: "The technology used in biomass generation is new and we need to address some operating issues with these two installations in Tadcaster and at our Royal Brewery site in Manchester before they can commence full time running.
"Efficient biomass generation is extremely important to Heineken UK and these plants represent a significant investment for our business.
"We are committed to finding the right operational conditions to enable the plants to provide clean, cheap and sustainable energy for our breweries.
"We are keen to get this right and taking the plants off-line will help us to resolve these outstanding issues more effectively."
The plants were built at a cost of 35m and were set to produce 37,000 MWh of electrical energy per year — enough to supply all of the site's power requirements.
They were to have the capacity to burn spent grain at a later date and were touted as being environmentally friendly as they would dramatically cut the brewery's carbon emissions.
It is not clear when Heineken UK, formerly Scottish & Newcastle UK, will re-start the plant which was designed to power the brewery for at least 30 years.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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