Alstom signs contract for Tilbury biomass power station in UK

Alstom has signed its third contract this year with Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC), the Danish power plant specialist, for a Geared Reaction steam turbine (GRT) at the proposed Tilbury biomass project.

The 45MW waste wood power station will be located on the River Thames near to London and will be built by BWSC and Aalborg Energie Technik (AET). This contract follows two others that Alstom signed with BWSC for 23MW and 50MW turbines for schemes in Widnes and Snetterton earlier this year.

The project specific design, engineering and manufacturing will be done at one of Alstom’s specialist facilities, with support offered by the UK team. The GRTs are preassembled resulting in a cost efficient installation and commissioning solution. Alstom has optimised the GRT to maximise the power production, covering renewable and traditional fuel types in addition to industrial applications for process steam.

Daniel Wahler, Alstom VP of Industrial Steam Turbines, said: “This is our fifth contract with BWSC in the UK, all for different sized turbines, showing the advantages of our modular offering to ensure we can offer the customer a GRT turbine that suits the specific requirements.”

The Tilbury plant is expected to generate 300 GWh of green electricity every year, enough to supply the power needs of around 80,000 homes, when it is commissioned in July 2017. It is expected to burn around 285,000 tonnes of waste wood a year.