River Tees tree debris could feed Tees Valley biomass industry

Sep 21 2009 by Kelley Price, Evening Gazette

THE TEES Valley’s growing biomass industry could find an unlikely feedstock, courtesy of the River Tees.

Every year an estimated thousand tonnes or more of tree debris gets washed downriver - and it’s the costly job of British Waterways to fish it out.

Now the organisation, which maintains 2,000 miles of inland waterways, wants to raise the cash for a chipping plant at the Tees Barrage.

Around 80% of the 100-mile long River Tees is tree-lined - and the barrage is the last stop for fallen trees and branches.

But with the biomass boom in full flow - Sembcorp’s Wilton 10 opened in 2007 and work will soon start on MGT Power’s half-a-billion-pound plant at Teesport - the sector could provide an outlet for the debris, helping to recoup some of the heavy removal costs.

"Mother Nature is offering a free delivery service to the Tees Barrage," said British Waterways river manager Alan Slater.

"We have a massive fuel resource that flows across Teesside, and we need to harness it.

"Nowadays we have more major floods and changeable weather. The last big floods, 300 trees came down. Some of them are three feet across. The largest tree we’ve removed was 13 tonnes."

Currently, visitors are allowed to take the retrieved branches home for firewood. Only the largest trees and branches are removed to limit damage to the barrage, but British Waterways would increase its haul if a suitable outlet was found.

A joint venture could be struck with other rivers experiencing the same problem, Mr Slater said.

Iwan Lloyd-Williams, of Thirsk-based forestry company UPM Tilhill, which supplies virgin roundwood to Semcorp’s Wilton 10 power station, said the river debris was a supply source ‘in principle’ provided it was 100% virgin wood.

"If it’s contaminated, it needs to go through a recycling process to strip any paint and chemicals," he said.

"The biomass industry is taking off, from small community boilers to the likes of Semcorp. As long as supplies are kept local, it lowers the carbon footprint and generates good prices for ourselves and the grower."

British Waterways has also loaned land at the barrage to BioReGen, a growing project that cultivates coppice for biomass on disused brownfield sites. Selective growing methods are used to improve soil on previously contaminated land.