What we do know is that the Port of Tyne could not expand their Biomass Handling Facility ST000314 until they had extended extended their River Quay to join up with the site of the new silos, former Mcnulty’s yard ST019913.  Two inconveniences that would of held up the expansion plans appear to have been fixed with the aid of South Tyneside Council:-

• There was no mention in the application, nor any protest by UK Docks who leased the Tyne Dock slipway from the Port of Tyne. The business has been relocated to a residential area without any public consultation. For much more see the shed. That there are more suitable places on the Tyne and the Wear is not considered a planning matter by the Planning Office of STC . . .
• the loss of Readhead’s Landing is probably more significant in the long run because basically the Planners have taken it from the people and given it to the Port of Tyne.

Three looks at the Expansion of the Port of Tyne Biomass Plant.

1. 1. The Port of Tyne is to invest £180m to develop infrastructure and new facilities to handle the import of wood pellets from North America for Drax power station, which is converting to biomass.Comprehensive report in Energy and Environment Management, January 25th 2013
      

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   2. The bonfire of insanity: Woodland is shipped 3,800 miles and burned in Drax power station. It belches out more CO2 than coal at a huge cost YOU pay for… and all for a cleaner, greener Britain!
      • Drax Power Station in Yorkshire is switching from coal to biomass pellets
      • The wood for the pellets is transported from North Carolina, U.S.
      • Drax is swapping to pellets as it is deemed ‘carbon neutral’
        

      By David Rose for The Mail on Sunday
      Published: 01:59, 16 March 2014 | Updated: 17:21, 16 March 2014 more . . . .

      If the biofuel protest lobby in the US and Canada get their way the America’s source of biomass will dry up and if we upset Mr Putin any more than we have already have , the sources in Siberia will dry up even quicker. For both the people who invest in the Port of Tyne and the people who care about the environment, this should be an issue . . . . .

   3. Beauty of Biomass
      
      08 Mar 2012

      

      Wood pellets need dry storage and lots of it

      Green and virtuous, biomass offers some handling challenges, as Felicity Landon finds out

      As power generators look to biomass as a vital ‘green’ ingredient, for co-firing with coal or firing on its own, many ports see potential big business on the horizon.Logically, ports that have traditionally been part of the supply chain serving coal-fired power stations would be expected to take up the opportunities. But therein lies a problem, or several problems – including dust, risk of fire and/or explosion, and the need for significant areas of covered storage and specialised handling systems.