A CONTROVERSIAL former abattoir in the north-east of Scotland is to be turned into a multi-million renewable energy plant producing green energy from dead cows.
There were scores of complaints about the smell from the knackery at Kintore, in Aberdeenshire, before it closed in 2004 but the new development will be odour-free according to the owners, the Oran Group.
As well as burning animal waste from the local area - which is sometimes transported as far as Northamptonshire at the moment - it will use biomass materials including wood, dried sludge pellets and sludge cake.
The facility will be one of the first in Scotland to generate energy using meat and bone-meal, which will be produced at the Oran's rendering plant, situated on the same site.
It is anticipated that the renewable energy plant, which will be operational by late 2008 and was granted a connection to the national grid earlier this month, will export sufficient energy to provide electricity for up to 9000 homes.
Oran says the pioneering plant will provide a long-term sustainable outlet for various biomass fuels with effective reduction of carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming. It will also decrease the hundreds of trucks every year which take the animal by-products elsewhere in the UK.
It will provide constant power generation, creating up to 25 highly skilled jobs and will mean a reduction of costs for the local agricultural and related sectors. After visiting the Kintore site, Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen said: "This is an exciting project that will help Scotland reach its target of producing 18% of our electricity by 2010 from renewable sources."
Shiona Baird, North-East Green MSP and speaker on energy, said: "This is a very positive venture for the north-east which has abundant supplies of wood. However, there is room for improvement.
"Though some heat from combined heat and power technology is used on site, it is not being exported to homes so the project is failing to fully use the waste heat created in the production of the electricity.
"Also, I'm unsure that burning blood and bone meal is the best way to use this."
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