Statkraft has entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Eco2 Lincs Limited for the long term purchase of output from the straw-fired renewable energy plant located in Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

Owned by the BNP Paribas Clean Energy Fund and developed and managed by ECO2 Ltd, the plant will have an installed capacity of 40MW and will produce enough power to supply 65,000 households. In addition, surplus heat from the plant will be utilized locally to heat the local swimming pool and Council offices, while ash produced will be recycled to provide fertilizer to support crop production.

Fuel for the plant will be sourced from residues from local farming, and is complementary to the production of existing crops. Straw supply contracts will provide an additional £6 million annually to regional farming, supporting jobs in the agriculture industry.

Christian Rynning-Tønnesen, President and CEO of Statkraft outlines the importance of the first Statkraft PPA for a biomass project in the UK: “This new biomass PPA represents a further expansion of our UK PPA activities, a key component of our future growth in this country . At the same time it also strengthens our position as the leading company within renewable energy in Europe”.

Einar Hoffart from Statkraft’s UK Renewable Energy Origination team explains the importance: “The UK biomass industry has been put on hold during recent years; however, Statkraft has been able to bring flexibility and strength to develop and conclude a PPA with ECO2, contributing to the successful financial close of the Sleaford Project. We very much look forward to working with BNP Paribas Clean Energy Partners and ECO2 on further projects in the near future”. Joost Bergsma, CEO of BNP Paribas Clean Energy Partners, adds that: “This is a hugely significant deal for the UK biomass industry as a whole. This is the first project-financed deal in UK biomass for five years and will open the way for more projects to follow. We are delighted to have Statkraft as the PPA partner for Sleaford.”

Tags: Statkraft