SIMEC Atlantis Advances Plans For Uskmouth Power Station Conversion

LONDON (Alliance News) - SIMEC Atlantis Energy Ltd said Monday that it has made progress with the conversion of the Uskmouth power station in Wales to generate electricity from waste derived energy pellets instead of coal.

Post conversion, the station is expected to export 220 megawatts of baseload power to the grid. Conversion of Uskmouth is forecast to take 18 months to complete, with a target of first production in the fourth quarter of 2020.

In line with this target, SIMEC has awarded an environmental planning and permitting contract to RPS. The consultancy firm will help facilitate environmental requirements for the Uskmouth conversion and construction of an energy pellet plant adjacent to the power station. The plant will operated by Dutch energy company N+P Group.

The company also said that joint venture SIMEC Subcoal Fuels Ltd has secured a management service contract to operate a second pellet plant, which is expected to covert 600,000 tonnes of waste into energy pellets.

SIMEC Subcoal Fuels is a joint venture between SIMEC Atlantis and N+P Group.

"The work we are completing with N+P will deliver an alternative fuel pellet which we expect will be very disruptive in the waste-to-energy and alternative fuel sector. A high energy pellet that burns as clean as natural gas and is capable of addressing the world's non-recyclable waste problem whilst providing base load generation and balancing services to the grid to facilitate deeper penetration of renewables is one of the most exciting developments in power generation in the last decade," said Chief Executive Tim Cornelius.

Shares in SIMEC Atlantis Energy were up 5.1% at 15.50 pence on Monday.