Teesside business review 2010 - Part III
WITH Harvest Energy re-opening the area’s only bio-diesel plant, hopes were rising of an industrial renaissance for Teesside. Karen McLauchlan continues her look back at the local economy’s highs and lows in 2010.
JULY
Development and ship-breaking company Able UK revealed plans to build a £400m renewable energy centre in Humberside.
The Billingham firm laid out its vision for a Marine Energy Park, which will feature space purpose-built for the construction and installation of wind turbines as well as a possible biomass power plant.
It had already invested £50m on the development, which could create 10,000 on-site jobs and 17,000 in and around Lincolnshire.
Sedgefield’s Printable Electronics Technology Centre was set to receive much of an £8.4m investment in plastics electronics unveiled by the Government. The centre opened last year with £20m of Government cash and the aim of creating 250 jobs in the region and 1,500 nationally.
Its research is to allow the manufacture of flexible lights, displays and solar panels on paper-thin plastic sheets.
Teesport owner PD Ports said it was due to start work on the first stage of a plan to increase capacity of the Middlesbrough port, a £15m project that could create around 250 jobs. PD Ports said it would increase the container terminal capacity to nearly double its current size, and would look at the market for further expansion afterwards.
Bosses behind a £500m biomass plant on Teesside said they hoped to start work on site by the end of the year following the Government’s backing for development in the sector. MGT Power, which is behind the Teesport-based project, says the Government’s decision to grandfather - or fix - long-term support for renewables ends months of uncertainty for the industry.
Teesside’s only biodiesel plant - once the largest in Europe - was back in business again. The former Biofuels Corporation plant at Seal Sands, which closed when the company ceased trading after three years in November, is now being operated by fuel distributor Harvest Energy to process waste oil. Biofuels Corporation was forced to shed its 38 staff, after opting for a creditors voluntary arrangement with KPMG to manage around £100m of debt.
Hartlepool’s JDR Cables said it would become the only subsea cabler in the UK to manufacture high voltage wind farm cables after it was handed a £2m Government grant.
We called on Gazette readers to solve this region’s identity crisis. For years the debate has raged over what our area should be called - with confusion between Teesside, Tees Valley, Cleveland, Yorkshire and Durham. A major survey into what the region should be called was launched - the result was a unanimous vote for Teesside.
