Dundee should have nothing to fear from the biomass plant proposed for the city”s waterfront, according to the MSP who has the UK”s biggest biomass facility in her Dumfries constituency.
Labour’s Elaine Murray told The Courier the Steven’s Croft plant on the outskirts of Lockerbie has been a “non-problem” since it was commissioned in 2007.
However, she sounded a note of caution with regard to both the siting of the Dundee plant and its reliance on importing woodchip, issues that might have caused her Lockerbie constituents some concern had their biomass facility followed the same pattern.
Built at a cost of £114 million, Steven’s Croft can produce up to 44 megawatts of power from 475,000 tonnes of woodchip burnt annually and sourced within a 60-mile radius.
The Dundee plant will produce more than 100 MWs, but would have most of its fuel delivered from overseas.
There are three other similar sized biomass plants under consideration at Leith, Rosyth and Grangemouth which together would consume the equivalent of almost half of Scotland’s annual timber production.
Forth Energy’s proposal for Leith has come in for severe criticism, particularly from SNP MSPs Kenny MacAskill and Shirley-Anne Somerville
Mr MacAskill said the Forth waterfront area was in danger of being blighted if the plant with its 100-metre stack about the same height as the one that would vent water vapour from the Dundee plant goes ahead.
The Scottish justice minister has said, “I’m very much against it. It would be physically obtrusive and ugly and would carry significant environmental risks, such as pollution from extra traffic.”
His MSP colleague, meanwhile, said she was “sceptical” about the green arguments for the plant and claimed that biomass energy is “simply not sustainable” if woodchip has to be shipped from north America.
The plans for Dundee have polarised opinion between those who feel the waterfront is not the right place for it and those who buy into the idea of reducing the country’s carbon emissions.
Mrs Murray said there were some worries about Steven’s Croft in its early days, but that was more to do with the fact that the plant was no more efficient than coal and gas facilities.
She said, “Steven’s Croft does have quite a high stack as well and there was some concern about fumes emerging from it before it was realised that it was just water vapour.
“Dundee people shouldn’t have any worries as far as pollution goes. I don’t think there is anything to fear in terms of the plant itself. In Lockerbie, it’s been a great non-problem.
“However, Steven’s Croft is on the outskirts of Lockerbie and it’s not very visible. We have a lot of forestry in the area and the biomass plant makes use of off-cuts of wood and material from the timber industry.
“It’s difficult to say if there would have been opposition had it been on a more visible site. I would be a bit worried if material for the biomass plant had to be brought in from the US and other overseas countries because that sort of defeats the purpose.”
Mrs Murray said the Lockerbie plant was not a big employer and the website of its owners, E.ON, confirms it employs just 40 people.
Forth Energy said the Dundee plant will employ about 45 people on a full-time basis. However, Steven’s Croft also supports up to 300 jobs indirectly in the local forestry industry.