Hopes of a return to operations at the £350 million Vivergo biofuels plant in Hull have been stirred after the Government announced it is to look again at mandatory levels of renewables in petrol and diesel.
As part of a huge range of green initiatives underway, a consultation into a long-awaited forecourt revolution has been launched by the Department for Transport.
Whitehall officials have told how the introduction of “E10 petrol” as it is termed, “could cut overall transport emissions and help us reach our #NetZero target”.
Using 10 per cent biofuels across the 海角视频 would equate to taking 350,000 cars off the road, and twinned with the high-growth electric vehicle industry is seen as a way of easing the burden created on the roads.
Vivergo, an employer of 150 at Saltend Chemicals Park, closed in September 2018, with only a skeleton maintenance team remaining.
The sprawling plant, owned by AB Sugar, had operated for 11 years, with intermittent periods of production halting. Fingers were pointed over “government inaction” when the tanks ran dry.
Dr Mark Carr, group chief executive at AB Sugar, said: “The launch of the E10 consultation today has not changed our position on the operation of our Vivergo plant. Having said that, at the point of closing production we based this on three factors: the ethanol price, the input (wheat) price and certainty of future demand determined by the mandating of E10.
“Any decision to reopen would need to consider the market conditions at the time and these three factors would need to be met. The mandating of E10 is crucial to driving market demand, and only once this is in place can we consider reopening alongside the other two factors.”
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Around 900 farms fed in 1.1 million tonnes of feed wheat, and with Yorkshire and Lincolnshire described as Britain’s bread basket in agricultural terms – with two of the six oil refineries on patch – it was an obvious location.
Greenergy also operates in the sector across the Humber, on Port of Immingham, with a green aviation fuel development also being brought forward in Stallingborough.
Richard Royal is now energy lead at Humber Local Enterprise Partnership, having worked as head of government affairs and communications at Vivergo. He founded the ‘Be 10% Good’ national campaign for E10 and the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Bioethanol.
“The announcement of a consultation on E10 is a positive step but is not before time, and follows multiple similar consultations which have all recommended its swift introduction. The ongoing delays played a large part in the mothballing of Vivergo Fuels, the loss of over 100 jobs and the removal of a vital income stream for local farmers.
“I believe there is still an ambition to reopen Vivergo and it is a central part of the Humber’s Energy Strategy to support this aspiration via lobbying the Government to introduce E10 as soon as possible, which would create the domestic demand and stable policy environment for the business to operate again.
“Vivergo Fuels is the second largest bioethanol plant in Europe and the largest in the 海角视频, and it is important for both the local economy and for the 海角视频’s environmental objectives that it is back up and running.”