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£1.7m pledge to keep Tees green
A POWERFUL coalition of business interests has put its weight behind the Tees Valley’s biofuels industry.
Regional development agency One NorthEast has pledged £1.7m over the next three years to persuade global producers to invest in sustainable production in the North-east.
The North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC), based at the heart of the petrochemical industry at Wilton, and one of three partners involved in the project, revealed it had already received inquiries from “a number of companies” already involved in, or looking to expand into, biofuels production and was building up a “substantial portfolio” of potential investors.
Mark Lewis, technical manager, said a priority would be to fill the D1 Oils plant, which will become vacant following the company’s decision earlier his year to concentrate on biofuels production abroad.
Teesside’s emergence as one of only two biofuels hubs in the UK has suffered from a growing credibility gap in the green fuels sector, which has come under fire from environmentalists for displacing food crops and pushing up prices.
But the Tees Valley’s bid to become an international hub for the biofuels industry would be based on its track record in using sustainable feedstocks. Ensus, which is building a bioethanol from wheat plant at Wilton, has, until now been a lone voice in countering the criticisms, which have seen a marked back-pedalling in Government support for the industry.
A board made up of a cross section of the supply chain, including farmers and processors, will be put in place over the next few months. John Brady, formerly in charge of transport and logistics for Billingham fertiliser firm Growhow, has been appointed project manager.
The partnership, which includes One NorthEast, North East Biofuels and Nepic, takes its lead from the farm-to-forecourt biofuels strategy for the region announced last year.
One NorthEast’s director for business and industry, Ian Williams, said: “North-east England has the potential to be one of the only European hubs capable of supplying the global market and attracting major investment – but it is still a young industry. We need strong leadership and expertise to build the capacity that will be needed in our production infrastructure and supply chains.”
He said it will also take on a lobbying role at both UK and European level.
Stan Higgins, NEPIC CEO, added: “The North-east is recognised across the world as a leading location for the process industry and has first-class infrastructure to support large scale chemical and biotechnology processing. Biofuels, biorefining and other activities requiring the handling of large amounts of material will always need these types of facilities. We have these in abundance on Teesside. This collaboration will ensure we have the capability of supporting and developing these new process industries going forward, as well as creating the supply chains that these new industries need.”
