Biomass manufacturers will be pleased to hear that sustainable wood pellets could soon become the fuel of choice for Britain's major power stations.
Drax in North Yorkshire is the biggest such facility in the country, supplying seven per cent of all the UK's power, but this is now switching from coal to biomass.
Speaking to Greenwise, Mark Candlish, director of the Renewable Energy Association and chair of its heating and cooling group, says that Drax's conversion could push many other facilities to switch to biomass.
However, he warned that it is not an easy process to switch fuel sources, having previously overseen a similar project on a much smaller scale.
Mr Candlish explained that even the conveyors had to be changed: "They were all built for coal, and wood chips blocked them up.
"For the first year we could only run because the engineers operating the plant were prepared to continually free blockages using poles and air lances."
Typical Guttridge equipment used in the biomass industry includes:
Conveyors – screw conveyors – chain conveyors – belt conveyors
