Peel set to secure consent for £150m Protos plant
Cheshire West & Chester Council is in line to give Peel Environmental and Progressive Energy planning permission to build a £150m bio-substitute natural gas plant near Ellesmere Port.
The plant will generate renewable gas from up to 175,000 tonnes of bio-resources from unrecyclable wood and refuse derived fuel. It also has the potential to be configured in the future to produce renewable hydrogen and link to planned hydrogen networks across the region. Peel Environmental is part of Peel L&P.
Set to be built at Plot 4 of the wider 330-acre Protos site, it has the potential to generate 320gWh of fuel per year, enough to power between 500 and 1000 HGVs per year.
Subject to planning consent and funding, the plant is due to start production in 2022. It is expected that a further eight similar facilities could be built across the UK during the 2020s.
Plans were submitted earlier this year, and are now set to be approved when Cheshire West & Chester’s planning committee meets next week. Planning officers have recommended the committee sign off the plans subject to a Section 106 agreement.
Other developments at Protos, formerly known as Ince Park, include a 35MW energy-from-waste plant, as well as outline planning consent and part detailed planning consent for general manufacturing and distribution uses, as well as a biomass facility.
Peel L&P is also looking to build a £7m hydrogen facility at the site, with a planning application submitted for the project last month.
