Revised proposals unveiled for £300m energy centre

Revised proposals have been unveiled by EP Waste Management (EPWM) for the planned energy centre on land at the South Humber Bank Power Station site.Planning permission for the centre, known as South Humber Bank Energy Centre (SHBEC) and located near Stallingborough, was granted by North East Lincolnshire Council in April 2019. SHBEC will make use of refused derived fuel (RDF) to generate sustainable electricity. It will directly create about 50 permanent jobs and represent an investment of about £300m within the area. Approximately 300 people will be employed during the construction period.Since permission was granted, EPWM has been assessing potential opportunities to improve the efficiency of SHBEC and is now proposing to increase gross electrical output up to 95 MW.This would require some additional works to those covered by the planning permission, although no changes are proposed to the building dimensions or the amount of RDF that would be used. An application would need to be submitted to the energy secretary to obtain consent for the revised proposals.EPWM will be holding a number of public consultation events in the local area this week (11 November).The events will be held at Europarc Innovation Centre in Europarc, Grimsby, and Stallingborough Village Hall and Healing Manor Hotel in Grimsby.EPWM, a subsidiary of EP UK Investments Ltd (EPUKI), intends to submit its application for the revised proposals to the secretary of state in the first quarter of 2020.EPUKI acquired the power station site from Centrica in 2017.