With four strokes of a hammer, the German technical inspections agency TüV officially approved the boiler for the biomass power plant that is currently being built for Twence in Hengelo. For the builder, Standardkessel GmbH of Duisburg, Germany, this represented an important milestone in the construction of the plant, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2007.

The fuel for the biomass power plant will consist of waste wood and other organic waste that is unsuitable for composting. That means that 100% of the electricity it generates can be designated as “green” energy. Each year, the new plant will be able to convert 140,000 tonnes of biomass into 163 GW of electricity, enough to satisfy the need for electricity for 44,000 households. It will be the first stand-alone plant in the Netherlands that can produce electricity from waste wood on this grand scale.