A NORTH EAST firm has sealed a 10-year deal to supply recycled wood to a new multi-million pound clean energy plant in Hull – with the creation of 86 jobs.
Waste-to- energy specialists PROBIO Energy won the decade-long contract to exclusively supply up to 170,000 tonnes of recycled wood per year to the plant, which is expected to be operational by March 2017.
The green deal will also boost employment, with additional jobs being created at PROBIO’s North East office – including a transport manager, contract manager, and quality control team members – and around 80 workers in Hull.
PROBIO Energy will be making daily deliveries to the plant five days a week with wood from sources including demolition, manufacturing industries, and old furniture.
Instead of going to landfill or being exported, the waste wood will be recycled into enough energy to supply around 16,000 homes. The contract is a game changer for the waste wood industry in the North East.
Kris Baker-Rain, managing director of PROBIO Energy, said: “It’s a very exciting time for the UK’s waste wood industry, and for PROBIO Energy.
“Previously, a significant amount of recycled wood from the North East has been exported to countries such as Sweden, where it is used for heat.
“As a result of this contract, the same environmentally-friendly methods of producing electricity will be carried out here in Hull.
“Job creation will give an additional boost to the area, with jobs being created in Hull, and throughout the North East.”
PROBIO’s contract is with GB Bio Ltd, which will take over running of the Hull plant from the funders and developers, Dublin-based Solar 21 Renewable Energy Ltd.
Solar 21 specialise in the development and operation of renewable energy assets including a large portfolio of solar photovoltaics (solar technology concerned with the production of electricity), in Italy.
HRS Energy Ltd designed the plant which is being built by sister company CF Struthers at their Headon Road site in Hull.
The construction contract secures the long-term future of over 100 skilled manufacturing jobs, in addition to the creation of the new jobs to service the plant.
The plant will make a “significant contribution” to reducing levels of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the UK, said Mark Wickham, managing director of HRS Ltd.