Site is set for £250m plant
WORK is powering ahead at Teesside’s first £250m bioethanol plant with construction work at the site set to start before Christmas.
Ensus is developing the facility at Wilton which is set to start production in early 2009.
And the company is also hoping to invest a further £10-£20m on technology at the site to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Alwyn Hughes, chief executive of Ensus, said: “The plant is currently being designed.
“And civil engineering work on roads and drainage will start before Christmas.
“Equipment for the plant will then start to arrive next year.”
The project is anticipated to employ 800-900 people during the construction phase and approximately 100 once the plant is fully operational.
The workforce at Yarm-based Ensus has already grown to about 20.
Sir Rob Margetts, Ensus chairman said: “This is the largest single biofuel plant being built in Europe - building at large scale is so important to be cost effective.”
The plant will be capable of producing up to 450 million litres of bioethanol.
“The European market will need 12bn litres of bioethanol by 2010-2012,” added Sir Rob. “The market is huge.”
The plant will also support about 1,500 workers in the farming industry, which will supply wheat needed to produce the green fuel.
Ensus has plans to add technology to the facility to capture carbon dioxide from the site, which would be liquefied and used for industry and in horticulture.
“That would be an investment of £10-£20m,” said Sir Rob.
“We’re hoping to announce more early next year.”
Yarm-based Ensus was set up last year up by a team, including several former ICI bosses.
Sir Rob, who is also chairman of Legal and General Group, joined 1CI in 1969 as a process design engineer at Billingham’s agricultural division before rising through the ranks to became the youngest person to be appointed to ICI’s main board
“There are so many good reasons we chose Teesside for this development,” he said.
“We’ve got the great infrastructure, the facilities at Teesport, and the right people with the right skills.
“And with our experience in industry on Teesside, we all knew this was an area that can deliver - and has the enthusiasm to welcome investment such as this.”
Ensus plans to expand its operations - and is looking at potential sites in areas such as Northern Europe.
The company also has land available to expand the Wilton plant further.
Mr Hughes, who began his working life in 1980 on Teesside as a graduate recruit to ICI, added: “We want to get this plant up and running and then learn from it before we develop our next plant.
“We are looking at other sites, but the business will remain headquartered here on Teesside.”
