PLANS for a 49.9 megawatt biomass facility at Blackbridge, Milford Haven – and more than 500 jobs – have pushed forward.

As a ‘Development of National Significance’ (DNS) the application for the Egnedol Wales facility at the former RNAD Mine Depot has now been sent to The Planning Inspectorate on behalf of the Welsh Government.

As a DNS, the decision on the development will be taken by the Welsh Minister, after being examined by an inspector, rather than Pembrokeshire County Council as the local planning authority.

The application, which could bring more than 550 jobs, was first made in July 2016, but an inspector deemed the accompanying environmental statement to have been incomplete.

Further information was needed on the effects on bats in the area as well as other details.

That information has now been resubmitted and accepted and the proposal can be considered.

The application details how the facility will operate: “The 49.9MW sustainable energy facility will utilise biomass and biomass recovered from waste derived fuel (WDF) as feedstock.

“The feedstock will be broken down by a pyrolysis process into a synthetic gas and cleaned to a standard comparable to natural gas.

“The synthetic gas will then be fed into gas engines to generate electricity for export to the national Grid.”

Low grade heat will be captured and used to promote the development of and reduce costs of other industries.

The application states that these industries will include aquaculture facilities comprising fish and prawn farms, algae production units, algae water treatment units, cheese production unit and greenhouses.

Other on-site facilities will include a packaging facility, research and development and the advanced conversion of carbon to aviation fuel.

Anyone interested can submit representations to the planning inspectorate by February 2.

They should be sent to dns.wales@pins.gsi.gov.uk

Members of the public can view the application documents online here or at Pembrokeshire County Council offices.