Green "Volcano" to Power U.K. Town

A "big, bold" biomass power station, slated for construction by the end of the year, will create green electricity and heat for more than 100,000 homes, organizers say.

Most people wouldn't want to live within a stone's throw of a volcano. But the residents of Stockton-on-Tees in northeastern England may soon rely on their friendly neighborhood "peak" for green power.

With construction due to start in late 2010, a proposed tower of power (pictured above in a design by Heatherwick Architecture) would produce energy and heat for more than a hundred thousand homes, organizers say.

The volcano-shaped biomass station was designed to blend into the surrounding grasslands close to Middlehaven, a derelict former industrial area that is being "regenerated" into a community with striking architecture, said Matthew Day, project director for development at Bio Energy Investments.

Rather than building a small, inconspicuous station, Day said, "we thought, no, we're going

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