Able UK reveals plans for £400m green energy site

Jul 8 2010 by John Hill, The Journal and Sue Scott, Evening Gazette

DEVELOPMENT and ship-breaking company Able UK has unveiled plans to construct a £400m centre for renewable energy on the bank of the Humber.

The Billingham firm released its vision for a Marine Energy Park a year after setting out proposals for a logistics centre and business park at its 1,987-acre Able Humber Port facility north of Immingham.

It says the projects will create 10,000 jobs on-site and a further 17,000 in and around North Lincolnshire.

The business says the park will feature space purpose-built for the construction and installation of wind turbines and could also feature a biomass power plant.

A total of £50m has already been invested in the development, which is currently used for vehicle import, storage and distribution. Informal consultation begins today, with a formal process to follow later this year.

An application is expected to be filed with the Infrastructure Planning Commission next year.

Able hopes to start construction on the marine works in April 2012, with the first half a kilometre ready for clients in summer 2013 and project completion in summer 2015.

Construction on the land-based elements of the site is expected to begin at the back end of 2011, while work on the logistics centre is earmarked for spring next year.

Able UK’s founder and executive chairman Peter Stephenson says the project would involve new quays 1,630-metres long, as well as the development of a biomass plant capable of supplying electricity for half a million homes.

He pointed out that the offshore wind areas at Dogger Bank, Hornsea and Norfolk Bank would require 5,000 turbines to reach full capacity, and that delivery from this site would be cheaper than from sites elsewhere in the UK and Europe.

He said: “There’s absolutely massive potential for the UK in the renewable energy sector. It’s very similar to the original 1970s and 1980s oil and gas boom with figures being talked about in excess of £100bn.”

He said that most land-based turbines are currently constructed in countries such as Germany and Denmark. The benefit of the near-2,000 acre site is that it will have space to construct larger turbines capable of handling harsh off-shore conditions.