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Its designers say it will emit around 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year LESS than a conventional power station - the equivalent in greenhouse gas reduction terms of taking 67,000 cars off Britain's roads.

It only takes 15 permanent staff to run the plant, but 1,000 people worked on site during construction and the plant will sustain other posts in in forestry, transport, wood recycling and farming.

It needs 300,000 tonnes of wood a year.

No one's pretending this is the answer to all our energy needs though. In fact, to meet the power needs of Britain today, you'd need 1,334 such plants and you'd need to find more than a million tonnes of wood every day to feed them.

This isn't the first time Teesside's power stations have experimented with unusual fuels. In 2004, Wilton Power Plant generated power by burning Tallow, the rendered fat of cattle slaughtered during the BSE crisis.

91热爆 Tees' Matthew Davies and Neil Green have been finding out more about the site...