THE world's first commercial wood-fuelled power station being built near Selby is a year behind schedule, costing the developers tens of thousands of pounds.

Barry Patterson, project manager for the developer Arbre - a subsidiary of Yorkshire Water - said problems developed when a contractor went into liquidation earlier this year.

He said Arbre had now taken over the construction and commissioning work but the delay had cost a substantial amount of money and put back the start date at the Eggborough site by a year. Mr Patterson said: "It has been a challenge to keep within the £30m budget." The contractor's problems had meant the programme had slipped by 12 months.

He said the revolutionary eight-megawatt station, fuelled by willow coppice, being produced by farmers in the region, should be producing electricity at full capacity by next Easter.

The plan is to start producing synthetic gas from the willow coppice chips by Christmas and produce electricity at full capacity by Easter."

The station will burn 80,000 tonnes of woodland a year, consuming willow coppice grown on plantations covering 5,000 acres.