Drax Adds Rail Link
A one-year-old rail link has increased capacity to deliver more sustainable biomass from Drax’s LaSalle BioEnergy pellet plant in Urania, La., to its UK power station. The $15 million rail link, combined with other initiatives, have already contributed to a $5/tonne reduction in Drax’s biomass production costs in 2019.
The five miles of rail track connects Drax’s LaSalle BioEnergy pellet plant to the regional rail network, enabling freight trains to deliver the pellets to the company’s dedicated export facility at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. The addition of the rail link has allowed Drax to deliver around 7,000 tonnes of sustainable biomass to the Port of Greater Baton Rouge in each train, compared to just 27 tonnes that could be transported by each truck previously.
A team of close to 40 contractors worked through two of the wettest Louisiana winters in decades to clear the site, excavating around 180,000 cubic yards of dirt to level off the ground and stabilize it before three sets of rail tracks could be laid. The work also included installing conveyors to get the pellets to the new rail loading point.
The rail link was commissioned last May and is now fully operational—and is part of Drax’s wider efforts to cut the costs of its biomass by around a third by 2027.
RELATED ARTICLES:
Drax Announces $40M Investment In Arkansas
Drax Sets Sights On Carbon Capture
Pinnacle Renewable Energy To Be Acquired By Drax Group
Earthworm, Drax Working Together
Latest news
Biomass Machines Debut At Oregon Logging Conference
Suppliers and vendors of biomass processing equipment were well represented at this year’s Oregon Logging Conference in Eugene, Oregon in late February. The logging industry’s biggest equipment show featured a wide variety of logging systems and harvesting and processing equipment…
Enviva Issues Statement Following Destructive Weather In Mississippi
Enviva Inc. has reported that all of its associates are safe and accounted for following a strong tornado that touched down in Amory, Miss., on March 24, 2023. The storm did, however, damage the company’s 115,000 metric ton per year wood pellet production facility, although Enviva’s larger plants and ports in…
Renova Delays New Biomass Plant Startup
Japan renewable power producer Renova Inc recently announced is postponing the launch of commercial operation of the 74.8-MW Tokushima-Tsuda biomass-fired power plant to some time in May 2023. Initially scheduled for a March 2023 startup, the plant is undergoing machine inspections, according to Renova…
Find Us On Social
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Wood Bioenergy News Online hits the inboxes of subscribers in the wood-to-energy sectors.
Subscribe/Renew
Wood Bioenergy is published and delivered worldwide 6 times per year. Free to qualified readers in the U.S. Subscribers outside the U.S. are asked to pay a small fee.
Advertise
Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative.