The £16 million plant, by ‘Special Purpose Vehicle’ O-Gen Plymtrek Ltd, has received regional aid and is being developed by Carbonarius Limited, a partnership set up between the Una Group and O-Gen UK to develop waste gasification facilities. The Plymouth plant is its first project and is in partnership with MITIE Group which was to have operated it.
The plant had been due to become operational from October 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story). However, while the consortium has been in discussion with businesses over the supply of waste wood feedstock, the plant is not running.
Previously, Ian Brooking of Carbonarius has said: “O-Gen Plymtrek is a state of the art facility which is highly efficient and sustainable, whilst supporting the local economy and community, and helping to meet national government targets. The solution in Plymouth utilises the best available technology as recognised by the Environment Agency. It avoids the need to landfill and transport the wood waste over large distances. This is the first of a pipeline of projects nationwide.”
This week, Mr Brooking, as a director of the Una Group, told letsrecycle.com that “as a landlord, we do not comment on our tenants.”
Carbonarius, in a statement in 2013, claimed: “The Plymouth facility has been developed and will be operated by MITIE. This has generated around 50 local jobs in the construction phase and around 23 in the running of the plant but it has also helped to secure around 750 jobs in the local area through its supply of renewable heat and power to nearby businesses.”
And, commenting on winning an award for the Plymouth development in 2013, Mr Brooking of Carbonarius, said: “It is great for us to win this award for all involved. Myself, David Pike and David Nairn have worked very hard against challenging financial markets to get this project built. We are a small company developing projects and it is great to win an award against the large waste entities.”
In 2011 MITIE Group plc explained: “The centre is the brainchild of MITIE’s Asset Management business, O-Gen UK and the Una Group. The companies have come together to form a new energy services company, O-Gen Plymtrek, which is exploring opportunities to supply the energy from the plant to a local business.”
It is currently unclear whether the project is set to continue, with neither Carbonarius nor individual parties involved – including MITIE and its subsidiary Utilyx – so far responding in any detail to letsrecycle.com’s requests for an update on the project.
When contacted by letsrecycle.com, Stoke-on-Trent-based O-Gen confirmed its involvement in the Plymouth project but declined to comment further.
Located on an industrial estate at Belliver Way around five miles north of Plymouth, the plant is designed to generate heat and around 26,000MWh of electricity each year, creating 23 local jobs. It was awarded a £525,000 grant in 2011 by the now-defunct South West Regional Development Agency.
The premises are next door to a medical technology firm, Becton Dickinson, which has an agreement with O-Gen Plymtrek for the supply of the energy from the plant.
Leasehold sale
O-Gen Plymtrek holds a 25-year lease agreement to operate the facility on the Belliver Way site. However, the leasehold for the Belliver Way site has been up for sale since February 2014 for £3.3 million and Maitlands Sales & Lettings, which is marketing the property, confirmed that an offer has been made by an unknown party.
The leasehold owner receives rent payments from O-Gen Plymtrek, which holds a 25-year agreement to develop and operate the biomass plant at the site.
The Plymouth plant was to take delivery of organic matter, shred it and then thermally treat it. A complex system of 18 gasifiers has been installed to create a syngas which would be cleaned and cooled before being used as the fuel in the boiler and turbine. The gasifiers and the boiler are described as “inextricably linked so that neither can operate independently”.
Carbonarius
While Carbonarius was formed in 2009 primarily to develop the Plymouth biomass plant, it has since sought to develop other mid-sized biomass facilities in the UK.
It announced plans In December 2013 to develop a 10.3MW biomass plant in Tyseley, Birmingham, which could divert up to 67,000 tonnes of recovered wood from landfill and produce enough electricity to supply the equivalent of more than 17,000 homes (see letsrecycle.com story).
A consortium of investors led by the UK Green Investment Bank and its fund manager the Foresight Group have invested a total of £47.8 million in the Tyseley biomass project, which will be known as Birmingham Bio Power Ltd and supplied with waste wood pellets by JM EnviroFuels Ltd.
[…] Uncertainty surrounds Plymouth waste wood energy plant – The Plymouth plant … creating 23 local jobs. It was awarded a £525,000 grant in 2011 by the now-defunct South West Regional Development Agency. The premises are next door to a medical technology firm, Becton Dickinson, which has … […]