The Welsh Government has called in an application to convert Uskmouth power station to burn waste pellets submitted by SIMEC Atlantis Energy Limited (SAE).
Previously Natural Resources Wales (NRW) was leading the determination. SAE believes that NRW was minded to award the variation to the existing permit, subject to conditions after a further round of public consultation, initially scheduled for September.
SAE said the direction “has been left to the very end of the NRW process and follows over a year of detailed information sharing between SAE and NRW”. It complained that the decision, which will delay the project “is a blow to South Wales”, adding, “The Welsh Government is putting at risk a project that will produce negative emissions, create hundreds of jobs in the Newport region, deliver hundreds of millions of pounds in investment and deliver the critical decarbonisation that industries in the region including steel and data centres require to make them sustainable.”
The conversion will burn fuel pellets derived from non-recyclable waste. SAE said delay “will not reduce the production of this waste but instead result in the continued shipping of plastic waste to other countries for it to be burned or the digging of deeper holes in which it will be buried.”
SAE said it would “consider all available legal options”, adding that it is in discussions, alongside its project partners, to find further locations to deploy the technology and fuel.