Tesco to become first direct energy customer of Tees Renewable Energy Plant

Oct 14 2009 by Kelley Price, Evening Gazette

TESCO will become the first direct energy customer of the Tees Valley’s biggest biomass power station.

MGT Power’s half-a-billion pound plant will supply green power via a high-voltage cable to the retailer’s neighbouring 1.2 million sq ft warehouse, which opens at Teesport next year.

It is hoped the supermarket giant will be the first in a line of industrial neighbours that will follow suit.

The massive Tees Renewable Energy Plant will create 600 construction jobs and 150 on-site roles, as well as 300-400 jobs each year for the local supply chain. Work is due to start in the first quarter of next year and the project could be operational by the end of 2012.

Using sustainable forestry as its feedstock, the plant will operate 24 hours a day, generating power for the grid equivalent to a 1000MW wind farm - twice as much power as the Greater Gabbard project which, at 140 turbines, is one of the UK’s largest arrays.

Chris Moore, director of MGT Power, said supplying power to other parts of the Teesport estate was a logical move.

He said: “We are seeking further agreements with other operating facilities in the port and the immediate area.”