In 2016 Euroforest Limited signed an exclusive supply contract with a new Biomass power-station ‘Kent Renewable Energy’ (KRE) located in Sandwich, Kent. The Biomass power station is located on the hugely successful ‘Discovery Park’ business and science park that is home to approximately 160 companies employing 3500 jobs in the region. Many companies who have based themselves at Discovery Park are heavily involved in science, healthcare, and innovation.
The location of the Biomass plant offers the forest industry and woodland owners in the Southeast of England a significant opportunity, and gives local landowners a steady and reliable market for their timber which has often been hard to market since the closures of St Regies and Sittingbourne papermills in 2006. Since the closure of these mills for roundwood deliveries, many local forests and hardwood woodlands have become unmanaged due to lack of local markets of scale for low grade chip and energy wood.
The biomass plant began construction in late 2016 with deliveries starting in late 2017. The plant uses approximately 240,000 tonnes of wood fibre per annum with most of this volume delivered by road from the south and southeast of the UK. The 27.5 Mega Watt Power Station provides electricity for the science park, a hotel, petrol station, Vertical farm and an additional 50,000 homes. The heat generated from the power station is also used for the heating and heat requirements of Discovery Park and will soon be providing heat for a new vertical farm at the science park.
KRE represents one of the largest investments in the forest sector in England in the last 20 years and gives landowners a long-term sustainable market for timber in the South of England.
Euroforest have provide KRE with a range of biomass material from locally sourced hardwood and softwood round timber supplied by local Euroforest area managers, to sawmill co-products and recycled timber which is supplied through AW Jenkinson’s Forest Products. Euroforest supply approximately 160k tonnes of round timber into KRE each year with the majority of this purchased within 150 mile radius of the plant.
The adjacent map illustrates the principal supplying areas and their corresponding volumes determined by the size of the blue circle.
Euroforest managers have developed excellent relationships with local landowners and other local timber merchants, and purchase timber for KRE and other customers in Southern England. Timber can be purchased in a number of ways from standing sales where Euroforest harvest and market the timber purchased ourselves to buying the timber at roadside from local estates and timber merchants. We are also willing to provide delivered in prices for suppliers who wish to organise their own haulage to the KRE power station directly.
We also operate an external storage yard which has a capacity of 10,000 tonnes, allowing Euroforest to build essential winter stock ensuring a smooth flow of timber to KRE when weather conditions become more challenging. This means Euroforest can accept timber all year even during periods of maintenance or shut down at the plant.
If you would like more information or wish to supply timber to Euroforest in the South / Southeast of England please contact:
Ben Manterfield, General Manager, East & South East England, on 07500 664563
The Kent office on 01304 805070
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