Renewable energy plant at UPM Shotton in Wales formally opened

Jun 26, 2007. /Lesprom Network/. The secretary of state for Wales, the Rt. Hon. Peter Hain MP has formally opened the new boiler plant at UPM's Shotton paper mill site in Flintshire North Wales stating it as an exemplar project in tackling carbon emissions and minimizing environmental impact. The new boiler plant, started up in December 2006, combusts all sludge produced from the Shotton paper mill's recovered paper recycling process, using biomass fuels. The investment has increased UPM Shotton's self-sufficiency in heat by up to 90-95% and in power by up to 25%. In addition, UPM's carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by 30 000 tonnes annually. Secretary of state for Wales Peter Hain MP said: “Climate change is the greatest single threat facing the world today, and renewable energy schemes like UPM's biomass plant have a crucial role to play in tackling it. The government supports a wide range of measures to encourage biofuels and other renewable energy sources so I am particularly pleased to see large multinationals like UPM taking renewable energy so seriously." UPM Shotton's production capacity is 520 000 tonnes newsprint based solely on recovered paper. The mill's processing capacity is some 700 000 tonnes of recovered paper annually and employs approximately 460 people at its Deeside Industrial Estate site. In December 2006 UPM announced an investment of GBP 59 million ($117.9 million) for another renewable energy plant for its UPM Caledonian paper mill in Ayrshire Scotland. UPM is one of the world’s leading forest products groups. UPM's businesses focus on magazine papers, newsprint, fine and speciality papers, wood products, self-adhesive label materials and RFID tags.