BOSS HITS OUT IN FUEL STORM
SUE SCOTT
THE TEESSIDE boss of what will be Europe’s largest bioethanol refinery when it opens in December has rejected a report which said it would single-handedly turn Britain into a net importer of wheat.
Alwyn Hughes, chief executive of Enus, which is due to take its first delivery of wheat feedstock at the end of this month, said the report had turned the clock back on a food versus fuel debate that green energy campaigners thought they had won.
On Monday, The Times suggested that the £300m Wilton plant, which will require 1.2m tonnes of homegrown grain a year to produce bioethanol for Shell, would at a stroke end Britain’s self sufficiency in wheat.
But Mr Hughes said the figures, which were based on the 2010 harvest falling below 12m tonnes, were nonsense.
“This year’s harvest hasn’t been great in terms of tonnage at 14m but even then we are looking at an export surplus of a couple of million tonnes.
“We would normally expect 15-16m tonnes and the farming community is confident of getting 18m next year.
“If we are dealing with a healthy surplus at 14m on normal predictions we are more than comfortable.”
Crucially, the plant will also produce a high protein animal feed from bi-product which Mr Hughes said would displace millions of tonnes of imported soy - a crop widely blamed for deforestation in poorer countries.
“I recognise our story is complex but this is a good fuel and food story,” he said.
Mr Hughes, who plans to plans to build similar plants in northern Europe and recently returned from identifying sites, said he expected difficulties in accessing finance for renewable energy projects to ease towards the end of next year as countries firmed up their environmental action plans and gave the markets confidence.
“The pound is weak, the wheat price on the back of a considerable global surplus has gone even lower. Combined with a healthy ethanol price, the market is looking encouraging,” he said.
“We would like to expand at Wilton and in Europe. We will have a closer look at that when we are operational in quarter one next year.
“That will be several million and we will have go back to the financial markets to look for some money, but they are better than they were six months ago.”
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