UK MP visits Canadian wood pellet plant producing fuel for Drax power station

British Member of Parliament Andrew Percy visited a Canadian biomass plant recently to speak to the staff and witness the operation of the plant providing wood pellets for Drax, UK’s largest energy producer.

Percy’s visit in the role of Minister for the Northern Powerhouse was to the Lavington Wood Pellet plant in British Columbia as part of a programme to promote UK-Canada trade and investment.

The Lavington plant produces 700,000 tonnes of wood pellets per year for Drax, helping produce about 1% of total UK generation.

Percy, talking to Sunthorpe Telegraph, called biomass a “transition fuel” that would make coal-fired power plants more sustainable into the future, thus protecting local jobs.

"The investment needed to import the material has seen multi-million pound investments in the port at Immingham, as well as in the British made cargo trains that move the biomass to Drax.

"The visit to the site was absolutely fascinating and what many people don't realise is that these biomass pellets are made from waste wood. Consequently, this is an environmentally friendly process that is replacing much dirtier coal generation with an environmentally sustainable fuel source,” Percy said.

"As Minister for the Northern Powerhouse, I have a role to play in promoting and supporting trade between the North and the rest of the world. It was great to celebrate a trading partnership that is supporting jobs in both the UK and Canada," he concluded.