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Hundreds of Teesside jobs will be created after planning consent was granted to build a £300m state-of-the-art waste to energy facility near Redcar.

Set for completion in 2025, Redcar Energy Centre will be run by Low Carbon, in partnership with PMAC Energy, creating 400 jobs during construction and 100 permanent roles once up and running.

Redcar Energy Centre will divert between 350,000 and 490,000 tonnes per annum of refuse away from UK landfill.

It will also generate up to 49.9MW of low-carbon electricity for the local grid – enough energy to power over 100,000 homes – and deliver more than £300 million of inward investment to the region.

The planning permission includes consent for the development of a Materials Recycling Facility adjacent to the Energy Centre. The Materials Recycling Facility will have the ability to process and recycle up to 300,000 tonnes of municipal, commercial and industrial waste each year extracting valuable metals for recovery.

The Redcar Energy Centre is expected to become a cornerstone development for the UK’s largest industrial zone as part of the South Tees Development Corporation’s ambitious redevelopment objectives, providing heat and electricity to advanced manufacturing facilities in the local area.

Occupying a 25-acre brownfield site within the Redcar Bulk Terminal (RBT) on the River Tees, the project will benefit from the existing strong road, rail and port links which means the centre can participate in both UK and European waste-derived fuel markets.

In line with its ambitions to be a greener, more efficient and lower cost solution to landfill and export, it will also offer zero emission energy from waste in partnership with the Net Zero Teesside Carbon Capture project which is located next door to the site.

The development is also keen to tap into the highly skilled local workforce which is expected to employ over 400 workers during the 36-month construction phase and require over 100 full-time positions once operational.

The project will also require the support of many local businesses indirectly creating further local employment.

With the UK waste to energy market undergoing significant recent growth and transformation, the Redcar development team are aware of the crucial role that waste supply and construction partners will now play in the next stage of the project’s development.

The project team will engage a range of fuel suppliers for the project and welcomes further discussions with potential partners over the next 6-12 months to ensure a fundable yet flexible long term feedstock solution.

Roy Bedlow, founder and chief executive of Low Carbon, said:

“The 49.9MW subsidy-free Redcar Energy Centre will use proven conventional technology to provide a reliable source of controllable energy for more than 100,000 homes.”

Credit: Tees Business