Confirmation of whether or not the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government would grant planning permission for the site was due yesterday (11 April) – but has been pushed back following his apparent concerns surrounding the plasma technology.
Air Products last week made the controversial decision to exit the energy from waste business having invested millions in its Tees Valley gasification project –which would have brought an additional 700,000 tonnes of residual waste treatment capacity to the North East (see letsrecycle.com story).
The government was looking to one of the two Teesside plants to provide power on behalf of its Energy for Growth programme over a 20-year fixed period.
Peel Environmental’s proposed gasification and materials recycling facility (MRF), which would treat up to 120,000 tonnes of commercially-sourced residual waste per year, is understood to be based on the same technology as the Tees Valley project.
Waste2Tricity
The Bilsthorpe plant, which would be developed in conjunction with EfW specialist Waste2Tricity, originally won planning permission from Nottinghamshire county council in November 2014 – but the application was called in by then Secretary of State Eric Pickles a month later (see letsrecycle.com story).
In a letter to parties involved in the government inquiry today, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has confirmed the incumbent Secretary of State, Greg Clark, is not yet in a position to decide the application.
The letter states: “It has very recently been drawn to his attention that Air Products announced on 4 April 2016 that it is exiting from its Energy-from-Waste (EfW) business as it has failed to overcome the technological difficulties and has abandoned its Tees Valley plasma and gasification plants due to ‘design and operational challenges’.
“In view of this announcement by Air Products, and the fact that it was not disputed at the inquiry that the Bilsthorpe Energy Centre would use the same technology, the Secretary of State considers it appropriate to give the parties to the Bilsthorpe case an opportunity to comment on any implications which the reasons leading to this announcement might have for the Bilsthorpe scheme as currently proposed.”
Comment
Recipients of the letter, which include Nottinghamshire county council, Mark Spencer MP, and Shlomo Dowen of UK Without Incineration Network, have been given until the 26 April to provide comments on the issue, with the Secretary of State to proceed with his decision ‘as quickly as possible’.
Update [13/04/16]: Peel Environmental development manager Richard Barker has confirmed the company remains “committed” to delivering the Bilsthorpe Energy Centre.
He said: “We have received the letter from the Secretary of State Greg Clark MP requesting comments on a recent decision by a third party organisation to exit the waste sector and plan to respond within the timeframe provided.”
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