The Tees Renewable Energy Plant

When it is completed, at a projected cost of £650m, the Tees Renewable Energy Plant will become the biggest dedicated biomass plant in the world. Two colleagues conceived the plan for the project back in 2007 and have successfully navigated through a gruelling 9-year financing and development period and now operate as MGT Teesside Ltd , driving the building process forward.

The Tees Renewable Energy Plant by Numbers

  • The 9 years spent planning, developing and financing the 299 MW biomass plant was 4 years longer than expected. Precision down to the finest tolerances is essential in such a structure and the colleagues took all the time they needed

  • Over 600 jobs require filling through the construction stage. A further 100 permanent jobs will be available when operations commence.

  • Every year, the optimally functioning plant is expected to produce 2.3 TWh of electricity a year. This is sufficient to power at least 600,000 average homes, with the twin benefits of low carbon impact and residual heat which can be supplied to nearby users

Ben Elsworth, the CEO of MGT Teesside Ltd, remembers that he and his colleague, “knew straight away that we wanted our flagship project to be based on Teesside where the project is situated within a world-class port and industrial cluster. It took almost nine gruelling years to fully develop and finance the power plant - at least four years longer than we planned for! The credit crisis and changes to UK energy policy were two of the reasons it took so long. We also had to replace our main contractor at the last minute. Through these challenges we always believed in the project, and stuck with it, because the UK needs a form of renewable energy that can be switched on and off when needed so that we can fully replace coal and gas with sustainable energy one day.”

Extensive cladding of stainless steel and/or aluminium will be necessary, as will metal jacketing. DryMet, the BS Stainless exclusive, is now readily available in ample quantity, this incorporates a moisture barrier on the underside to prevent corrosion from the inside out  This corrosion can be from moisture trapped on the inside unable to circulate , containing contaminates that corrode the metal or from Galvanic corrosion. Dissimiler metals from materials such as steel in the wired mesh stone wool will attack the cladding the result is a poor performance and long term failure.At liitle extra cost cladding or jacketing with a factory applied moisture barrier will prevent this, resulting in long term cost gains.This cladding is secured with the stainless steel  banding and wing seals, supported with lacing wire, rivets, screws and other fixings and fastenings that completes the package to professional, international specification.

You can follow the progress of the Tees Renewable Energy Plant at  join BS Stainless on social media to stay in touch.

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