E.ON is planning to develop one of the UK's largest biomass renewable energy plants at the Royal Portbury Dock in North Somerset.

In March 2012 the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) approved our planning application to build a 150MW renewable energy plant, which could produce enough renewable energy for more than 200,000 homes by burning sustainably sourced wood materials that would largely be brought to the plant by ship.

The proposed renewable energy plant would displace almost 400,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually by burning sustainably sourced biomass.

We will now take time to review the prospects for the project in light of the UK Government's current banding review and how it fits with our portfolio of renewable energy investments in the UK.   If the project gets the green light, construction could begin later this year and be fully operational as early as 2015. It's expected that the site would create 35 full-time jobs within the local area once completed.

Andy   Burnett, Biomass Development Manager for E.ON Climate & Renewables, said: "We believe that this is a great location for the plant and underlines the south west region's reputation as one of the country's leading green areas".

The Portbury Dock scheme would be the latest addition to our biomass portfolio. We already own and operate a 44MW dedicated biomass plant at Steven's Croft, near Lockerbie and we're currently building a 30MW biomass-fired renewable energy plant at Blackburn Meadows near Sheffield.Earlier this year we announced that we will be converting our coal-fired power station in Ironbridge to run on biomass. We have submitted a planning application to build a fuel store and expect the conversion to be completed by 2013 if the application is granted, after which the plant will operate on wood as part of its fuel mix until its scheduled closure at the end of 2015.