£120m investment to breathe new life into old power site

Now the area is on the brink of a dramatic rebirth.

Peter J Douglas Engineering, which is part of the PJD Group, has been awarded a multi-million pound contract by Andritz Energy and Environment GmbH to erect the boiler and associated mechanical plant at Blackburn Meadows Renewable Energy Plant in Sheffield.

The £120m E.ON owned renewable energy plant will be based near the site of the old Tinsley Towers, which were demolished in 2008.

When operational, the site will generate 30MW of electricity, enough to power around 40,000 homes, by converting recycled waste wood into electricity.

E.ON began clearing the site at Blackburn Meadows in Sheffield earlier this year to prepare the land for the construction of the plant. When complete the plant will displace the emissions of around 80,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, the equivalent of taking more than 20,000 cars off the UK’s roads each year, by burning carbon neutral fuel in place of traditional fossil fuels like coal and gas.

The biomass plant is one of the first low carbon schemes to begin construction since the Government published the Energy Bill in May.

At its construction peak, PJD will be employing more than 60 skilled workers, with the contract lasting 66 weeks in total. The project comes after PJD received a multi-million pound investment to support the search for acquisitions in Yorkshire.