Site Selection
Why is the plant in North Kesteven?
Straw is a distributed resource and it has a relatively low energy value per tonne (compared with coal, for example). These two factors make the cost of transporting fuel to the plant quite high, and best practice dictates that a straw-fired power station should be close to a concentrated region of straw production to minimise these costs. North Kesteven meets these criteria, with a significant proportion of its land devoted to wheat farming.
Why is the plant on agricultural land?
The location on agricultural land was chosen after a thorough site selection exercise. This site selection exercise considered sites that are currently allocated for industrial use in the first instance. Each site was tested against a number of criteria including plot size, access, grid connection, and impact on local amenities. No suitable sites were available.
The site search was then extended to green field sites and the Sleaford site on Boston Road was selected because it passed the criteria mentioned above. A more detailed review of the site selection exercise was submitted as part of the environmental statement and can be downloaded by clicking here.
