Helius gets approval for U.K. biomass plant

Middlesbrough, England-based Helius Energy (AIM: HEGY) received consent from the U.K.'s energy minister today to build a 65 megawatt biomass power plant in North East Lincolnshire.

Helius said construction of Phase I of the plant, costing around £200 million, is expected to start later this year and to be operational by 2011.

"This announcement takes us closer to achieving our proposed renewable energy targets," said Energy Minster Malcolm Wicks.

"We have doubled the amount of renewable electricity to 5 percent over the last few years and later this month we will be launching our consultation on how we can drive this forward even further."

Helius said the power station is the first phase of an integrated bioenergy development on a 36 hectare site 4 kilometers from the port of Immingham.

The company said it would produce enough renewable electricity for around 100,000 homes, covering most of North East Lincolnshire.

The plant will initially be fueled by waste wood, specially grown crops and the leftovers from timber processing activities sourced from the U.K. and Europe.

The government said planning permission has also been granted to build an additional biomass processing facility and bioethanol and biodiesel refinery.

The long-term plan is that spent grains from the bioethanol plant and glycerol from the biodiesel plant would eventually be used as feedstock for the power station, according to the U.K.'s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Helius said options to use the heat produced by the plant either on site or locally are also being considered.

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