The UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) and Foresight Group have made an investment of £20m for construction of the Evermore Renewable Energy project at the Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners land at Lisahally, in Northern Ireland.
The investment was made through Foresight managed fund, UK Waste Resources & Energy Fund (UKWREI), in which GIB is an investor. Foresight has secured funds from GCP Infrastructure Fund (GCP) and Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC).
GIB’s first investment in Northern Ireland is a part of £81m plan to develop the biomass plant with an estimated capacity of 15.8MWe. The combined heat and power (CHP) station will provide clean electricity enough for more than 25,000 homes a year over its 20-year lifetime.
UK Green Investment Bank chief executive Shaun Kingsbury said that the project is expected to significantly increase Northern Ireland’s renewable energy capacity.
"Not only will the project save the same amount of carbon as taking around 77,000 cars off the road, it will also make use of over two million tonnes of wood, a valuable energy resource that would otherwise have gone to landfill," added Kingsbury.
"Our mission is to crowd in private sector capital, so I’m especially pleased to see that every pound of GIB investment brought in more than £3 of private funding."
Meanwhile, Stobart Biomass will provide annual wood of around 110,000 tons for the project through a long-term supply contract.
Evermore co-founders Ciaran and Stephen Devine said: "Working with the best partners in technology, fuel supply and financing, we hope to show that Northern Ireland is a great place to do business so that further inward investment will follow."