Woodchip exports to warm Swedish homes (From Daily Echo)

Woodchip exports to warm Swedish homes

3:46pm Monday 16th May 2011 in News By Matt Smith, Politics and business reporter

Eco’s Peter Hardy, right, and Ian Jacobs of Solent Stevedores watch as the first consignment of wood chips for Sweden is loaded at Southampton.

WASTE wood from Hampshire will be used to heat Swedish homes this winter.

The first of five shiploads of woodchip have left the Port of Southampton bound for power stations in the north of the Scandinavian country.

The wood, which previously would have gone to landfill, has been collected from household recycling centres across Hampshire and Dorset by Christchurch based Eco Sustainable Solutions.

A total of 15,000 tonnes will be shipped to Pitea in Sweden during the next four months.

The Southampton shipment is the first since Solent Stevedores spent £100,000 on installing new facilities for handling wood chip at the port.

They included a 2,500 square metre concrete pad for storing the wood before shipping.

Eco sales manager Peter Hardy said: “The loading operation took two days and went very smoothly. As always, we were delighted with the professionalism shown by Solent Stevedores.”

Ian Jacobs, the general manager for Solent Stevedores, said: “Wood chips have become an important new business stream for us.

“We’ve forged a strong business relationship with Eco and look forward to working closely with them over the coming months and years,” he added Eco is seeking planning permission for a £7m biomass plant on its Parley site near Christchurch. The 25,000 tonne capacity facility would be capable of generating 2.7 megawatt of electricity a year from burning wood.

Meanwhile, the firm behind the plan for a giant £300m, 100 megawatt power plant, at the Western docks is revising its plans after public opposition. Helius said it plans to burn up 800,000 of wood chip a year, mostly shipped in from Scandinavia and Scotland, to generate enough electricity for 200,000 homes. It would boost the bulk business at the port by up to a quarter.