LLANGEFNI, Wales, July 1 (UPI) -- Plans to build what's being called Europe's biggest wood pelleting plant are on the move again in Wales after a long planning process, a company official says.
EcoPellets Ltd., of Cork, Ireland, and British company Integrated Energy Systems International announced plans two years ago to construct a huge pelleting facility and an accompanying 30-megawatt biomass power plant at an industrial park in Llangefni, Wales.
But not much more was heard of the project in the meantime, even as Welsh officials touted an initiative to attract more than $3.7 billion in energy-related projects to the Isle of Anglesey and North West Wales over the next 15 years.
The site of the proposed plant was once a manufacturing plant for active ingredients used in the pharmaceutical industry owned by Eastman Chemical Co. of Kingsport, Tenn. It was built in 1971 by the Peboc Chemical Co. and was shuttered in 2008 with the loss of 65 jobs.
With an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent in February, according to Britain's Office for National Statistics, the Anglesey government is eager to add green energy jobs, and the backers of the $160 million wood biomass plant promised to create about 200 direct and indirect permanent jobs with the project.
Its announcement in 2009 was met with cautious optimism by local officials, who cautioned the plans would need to undergo rigorous vetting.
But John O'Shea, managing director of Integrated Energy Systems International, said Wednesday the plans were moving ahead and a planning application had officially been submitted to the Anglesey County Council.
O'Shea told the Holyhead and Anglesey Mail the work needed to gain approval of a 30-megawatt power line connecting the project to the island's electric grid took a while to overcome but has now been completed.
"We have broken that situation as there will be a 30-megawatt line connected here, and that will open up the whole distribution for the island," he told the newspaper.
"The electrical connection has taken a long time, because we first had to carry out a major study of how renewable energy might look in Wales," O'Shea said. "The problem here, not just for this site but for Anglesey in general, is that despite there being a big nuclear power plant, getting electricity down to local level is becoming more and more difficult."
The plans, O'Shea said, now call for a 250,000-ton-per-year wood pelleting plant, which he said would be Europe's biggest and would be supplied from abundant local forest sources.
Accompanying it would be a 17-megawatt solid biomass co-generation plant and a 14-megawatt liquid biomass plant, capable of producing enough electricity to power 50,000 homes.
The Mail reported its backers hope the wood pelleting plant will be completed late next year followed by the two power plants, which would begin operating around a year later.
The plans fit into the goals of the "Energy Island Program" initiative announced last year by First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones and Anglesey County Council Leader Clive McGregor. The aim is to bring billions of dollars in energy investments to the Isle of Anglesey and surrounding region.
"Anglesey is well-placed to become a hub for low carbon energy generation, given its location, wealth of natural resources and skills base, both here and across the wider region," Jones said.
Welsh officials are looking to target investments in wind, tidal, biomass and "other micro-generation projects" to create thousands of new jobs, as well as seeking a rebuild of the Wylfa nuclear power plant.
