Remember the fairy-tale about turning straw to gold?

In Denmark, we’ve found something even better. We use biomass-fired boiler technology to turn straw and other leftover agro-waste into clean, green energy.

The reliable, renewable mix

Up until the 1990s, Danish farmers still burned leftover straw from their harvests on open fields. The fires created harmful pollution. And they were also wasteful.

Just like other forms of agro-waste, straw contains stored energy from the sun. By combusting that biomass in state-of-the-art boilers instead of on open fields, that stored energy can be released under controlled conditions to produce electricity and heat for homes and businesses.

And since straw is renewed every growing season, we secure a truly sustainable, domestic fuel source.

Waste not, want not

BWSC is at the forefront of the development within biomass-fired power plants that use straw or other types of agro-waste. The Snetterton Renewable Energy Plant near Norfolk, England is one of them. Since 2017, the power plant has been supplying about 82,000 thousand homes with carbon-neutral energy. That adds up to annual CO₂ reductions of about 300,000 tons per year.

The solution has global applications too.  In northern India, leftover straw stubble from the rice harvest is burned every autumn causing massive air pollution for tens of millions of people in New Delhi. BWSC is currently supplying two biomass-fired boilers in cooperation with Isgec Heavy Engineering  that will be able to combust straw from one of India’s leading rice producers. The result: air pollution from burning fields and dependency on giant, coal-burning power plants is reduced.

Martin Wittrup Hansen, Director of Biomass-to-energy, says BWSC is keen to develop similar partnerships where our state-of-the-art technology helps reduce global carbon emissions and deliver returns for investors.

“We have already demonstrated an ability to apply our solutions throughout Scandinavia and Northern Europe,” says Hansen. “But there are many agricultural areas worldwide where straw and other agro-waste is overlooked as a carbon-neutral resource. BWSC’s biomass-fired power plants and boilers can put those resources to good use.”