A business park with 130,000 sq ft of industrial space powered by a 9.5MW biomass power plant is poised for the green light after council officers recommended it for approval. The outline application for the land on Rover Way in Cardiff would comprise units of up to 25,000 sq ft. The biomass plant would consume up to 75,000 tonnes of wood each year with the industrial space creating up to 30 jobs. The report to be considered by Cardiff City Council planners tomorrow (13 June 2018) said: "The power plant will produce electricity and thermal energy via steam. It would be constructed on a development plateau with a maximum flue height of 51 metres and a maximum building height of approximately 32 metres. "The plant will burn virgin timber, which will be transported to the site by road or rail from either Liverpool docks or Felixstowe, having been shipped from overseas, possibly Latvia." The application comes from Geraint John Planning on behalf of Parc Calon Gwyrdd. The application said: "The site, which was previously used as a non-domestic land fill site, known as the former ‘frag tip’ site, is currently used as an off-road motorcycle facility managed by Cardiff Council’s Parks Service. The motorcycle facility utilises less than half of the site area. "It is understood that this area was reclaimed, partially remediated and landscaped during the construction of the adjacent STW site to provide a local amenity. "Subsequent to the completion of these works a large amount of uncertified fill was deposited on the site from various construction projects in the locality, notably St Davids 2 retail scheme, rendering a substantive amount of the previous remediation ineffective. "The proposed development is for a circa 9.5 MW combined heat and power station which will produce electricity and thermal energy via steam. The fuel source for the power station will be biomass, which is a sustainable fuel, will be delivered either via the adjacent Cardiff Docks or sourced from established UK distributors or a combination of both. "In addition to the CHP, the proposed development also includes industrial accommodation, which will be mostly energized by the power station. The industrial units vary in size, from 15,000 sq ft units on each corner and a terrace of four 25,000 sq ft units, all with full articulated lorry access. This would provide 130,000 sq ft of Low to Zero Carbon industrial accommodation."
A new 9.5 MW biomass power and heat plant has been recommended for use by renewable energy Council . The power plant , built on a reclaimed site , is expected to consume around 300 tonnes of harvested virgin trees each year in order to produce electricity and thermal energy for a new business park .