Foster Wheeler has been awarded a $53 million contract by SembCorp Utilities UK Limited to assist in the building of a novel biomass-fueled power station.

SembCorp is creating the new stand-alone biomass-fueled power station at its Wilton International site on Teesside, in northeast England. The project, known as Wilton 10, has a total investment cost of $114 million, and is one of the UK’s largest biomass renewable energy projects.

Foster Wheeler, as the main boiler contractor, will design, engineer, construct and commission the complete boiler island, including the flue gas treatment system.

The power plant will burn around 300,000 tons of wood a year. This will come from a variety of sources, including specially grown energy crops, forestry logs, sawmill chips and recycled timber.

The boiler will be designed to achieve maximum efficiency using high steam conditions and the new plant will supply 30-megawatts of electricity, enough to power around 30,000 homes.

The Wilton 10 project is in response to a government call, following the 1997 Kyoto Agreement, for more energy throughout the UK to be generated from renewable sources. Commercial operation of the plant is expected in the second quarter of 2007.