Lessons Learnt from Experience in RWE Generation in the UK

摘要

The conversion of coal-firedpower sta-tions to biomass was seen as a low cost and low risk means of achieving CO2 reduction in the UK. Following the conversion and operation of Tilbury Power Station to wood pellets, the industry is better informed about the technical risks. The experience from Tilbury shows that, despite good risk assessment processes, described in this article, and competent people, without whom the project would not have happened, there was much that was unknown about the performance of the biomass in the Tilbury plant. This was due to Tilbury's specific design and the lack of industry experience of working with wood pellets. The consequence of this was many minor issues to resolve that detracted from some more significant issues. The lessons learnt from Tilbury are described within this article and are forming part of new guidance to the power generation industry in the UK.