Progress made on £150m renewable energy plant

6th March 2019 | Commercial Energy

Peel Environmental, part of Peel L&P, has signed a deal with Progressive Energy to work on the UK’s first commercial scale bio-substitute natural gas (BioSNG) plant. On the back of this, an application for the development has been submitted.

The facility will generate renewable gas from up 10 175,000 tonnes of bio-resources, including unrecyclable wood and refuse-derived fuel. This will be used in the transport sector, generating enough gas to power up to 1,000 low carbon HGVs and buses every year. A total of 500 jobs would be created during the construction phase, as well as 35 full-time.

Renewable

Chris Manson-Whitton of Progressive Energy said, “Although the UK is making good progress in decarbonising its electricity supplies, the transport and heat sectors – which together represent around three quarters of our energy consumption – are lagging way behind. Facilities such as this could make a huge difference, providing renewable gas for transport fleets across the North West and beyond. In the future we could see a large proportion of the UK’s HGV powered by this fuel.”

Jayne Hennessy of Peel Environmental added, “There’s a growing momentum around energy in the North West and projects such as this demonstrate how we’re leading the energy revolution. Protos sits at the heart of the Energy Innovation District – a whole energy system that could set the blueprint for the UK. Through innovative technologies and smarter distribution networks we can drive down the cost of clean energy, attracting new businesses, jobs and investment.”

BioSNG is a replacement for the regular natural gas that is currently supplied to homes and businesses. It can be injected into the existing gas network, providing the opportunity for the plant at Protos to export fuel the wider UK without the need for any road movements.

Subject to planning approval and funding, Progressive Energy’s plant is due to start production in 2022.

More information available on the website below

https://www.insidermedia.com/insider/northwest/progress-made-on-150m