Port Clarence owner applies to switch from biomass to RDF

The £160 million waste wood biomass plant was mothballed in April 2019 when its main contractors Babcock & Wilcox Volund reached a settlement with Glenmont to exit the site.

Initially due to come online in 2018, the site was hit by a series of delays which meant Glennmont missed out on the government’s Renewables Obligation Certificates subsidy scheme, given to biomass plants to create renewable electricity.

Since then, the company has been seeking a “positive solution” for the site. A switch to energy from waste has been “under consideration” for some time (see letsrecycle.com story).

The majority of changes required to combust RDF as a fuel are relatively minor

• Port Clarence Energy Limited

Permit

Now, an application has been submitted to allow an RDF plant capable of processing up to 330,000 tonnes to operate from the site, situated on the banks of the River Tees.

The Glennmont subsidiary which owns the site, Port Clarence Energy Limited (PCEL), said in the application that he majority of the fuel handling, combustion and flue gas treatment systems have already been constructed.

Therefore, “the majority of changes required to enable the facility to combust RDF as a fuel are relatively minor,” PCEL added.

The permit change would see an additional waste code added to its permit to allow RDF to be processed there, as well as modifications to the fuel handling arrangements, ash handling systems and boilers.

Construction

Construction of the facility began in 2015 and around 40 people were employed on the site (see letsrecycle.com story). This rose to around 300 during peak construction.

Funding was provided by Glenmont Partners with debt arranged and provided by Deutsche Bank and Danske Bank, supported by EKF, the export credit agency of Denmark.

Supply

Biomass fuel company Stobart Energy won a contract to supply the plant with 250,000 tonnes of waste wood in 2015 (see letsrecycle.com story).

When the deal was announced, it was said that the company would begin supplying wood from both commercial and local authority sources from late 2017, with around 3.5 million tonnes of material sent to Port Clarence during the lifetime of the contract.

The Agency’s consultation on the plans will run until 29 March, before a decision is due later in the year.