Oran's green power bid

- Published: 02 February, 2007

Controversial plans to produce green electricity through the incineration of cattle bones and meat, left over by abattoirs, have been unveiled by a waste management company.

The Oran Group wants to build a £24m renewable energy plant at Kintore, next to its rendering facility in the Aberdeenshire town. It would be capable of producing enough clean energy to power 9,000 homes.

The plant would be built at the 130-acre site of the former Dundas Brothers' abattoir, which closed three years ago after a

public outcry over the "intolerable stench".

Alloa-based Oran Group, which still has to receive a permit for the new Kintore plant from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, plans to handle up to 1,200t of animal products a week. General manager Ben

Ballantyne said: "The Oran Group will use biomass materials produced in Scotland as renewable fuels to generate a constant supply

of power.

"Some of the materials are currently transported long distances from the north-east by lorry, so it will be hugely beneficial to the environment to use them locally," he said.

"At the same time, by com-

bining the use of the group's modern rendering plant and renewable energy plant, operating costs for local abattoirs will be significantly reduced."

The plant is expected to be

operational by late next year,

creating 25 permanent jobs.