Options ‘open’ for power plant future
SPECULATION that a Teesside power plant is up for sale was today dismissed by owners, who insisted selling the site is only one of a number of available options.
Wilton-based Teesside Power Station, which used to be owned by bankrupt US energy giant Enron and is now run by Stockton-based PX Group, is subject to a strategic review by investment bank NM Rothschild. But claims it has been put up for sale by the private equity owners of Teesside Power Limited, Cargill and Goldman Sachs, were dismissed.
Instead, the company says the review will look at a number of options for the plant.
The company added the new owners had been carrying out research on technical upgrades at the plant, and had decided to look at whether new investors needed to be brought in.
A spokesperson for Teesside Power Limited said “Selling the plant is only one option.
“The owners are just working on a planning application to upgrade the power station, not to increase capacity, but because, by replacing some of the turbines with more modern ones, it is now possible to use the same amount of gas to produce more electricity in a more efficient way.
“There are a range of options available to the owners, and Rothschild’s has come across to review the commercial viability of them.”
The spokesperson added: “The plant will be 15 years old this coming April. In 2002, the plant got new owners, Goldman Sachs and Cargill, and they have taken the opportunity to hold a review of what the future of the plant should be.
“This is because the original contract for buying gas and selling electricity is coming to an end at the end of the 15-year-period.”
Whatever the outcome of the strategic review, the company is also adamant there will be no impact on workers at the plant.
A spokesperson said: “We would not anticipate any impact on the people who operate the plant, and that is a hypothetical situation anyway, as it is too early to say whether we are even going to go down that road.”
Press reports yesterday valued Teesside Power Plant at between £200m and £300m, a figure which was described by the spokesperson as “too low”.
PX was set up in 2002 when it secured contracts to operate and manage the £100m gas processing plant, at Seal Sands, and Teesside power station after the collapse of previous owner Enron.
Five former Enron bosses formed new Teesside company to take over operation and management of the sites.
The collapse of a £6bn merger deal with rival Dynegy tipped debt-ridden US energy giant Enron into bankruptcy at the end of 2001.
