Site Selection
Why is the plant in North Lincolnshire?
Straw is a distributed resource and it has a relatively low energy value per tonne (compared with coal, for example). These two factors make the cost of transporting fuel to the plant quite high, and best practice dictates that a straw-fired power station should be within to a region of concentrated straw production to minimise these costs. North Lincolnshire meets these criteria, with a significant proportion of its land devoted to wheat farming.
What other sites were considered?
The sugar beet factory location was selected after a consideration of a number of sites. Site selection is a complex exercise in which sites must be evaluated against a number of criteria that determine whether land would be suitable for development as a renewable energy plant. Eco2 typically considers size, planning designation, proximity to the electricity distribution network and road access amongst others.
Renewable energy projects are so important nationally that planning policy does not normally expect developers to demonstrate why it has selected a particular site. The Brigg proposals are slightly different in that the site lies within Flood Zone 3. Eco2 was therefore expected to demonstrate that there are no other suitable sites in a lower-rated flood zone. Eco2 has carried out a full sequential test to determine whether or not there was a more suitable site that lies in an area of lesser flood risk for the proposal. 23 potential sites in Flood Zone 1 were assessed on plot size and geometry, suitability for industrial use and commercial availability. The former sugar beet factory was the only potential site to meet all of these essential criteria.
