Construction began today on a £60.5 million biomass/feeds combined heat and power plant in Rothes in Speyside, Scotland. It will use Scotch whisky distillery by-products to generate electricity, produce animal feed and drastically cut carbon emissions.
Helius CoRDe Ltd – a consortium comprising Scotch whisky producers The Combination of Rothes Distillers, energy firm Helius Energy Plc and project equity company Rabo Project Equity BV – is behind the plant. Thought to be the first of its kind in the world, the plant will generate 7.2MW of electricity – enough to power 9,000 homes – most for export to the national grid. It will also produce as animal feed in the form of pot ale syrup. It is estimated it will save 46,642 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
The project will create approximately 100 jobs during construction and it will employ around 20 full-time people when operational in 2013.
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