Ensus sits out biofuel woes
13 Sep 2011
Competition for US imports and continuing uncertainty over regulatory support mechanisms have prompted Ensus to halt its Teesside bioethanol plant. Patrick Raleigh reports
Lonsdon – US imports and regulatory delays have recently forced Ensus to temporarily shut down its bioethanol plant (from the end of this month) at Wilton on Teesside, in north-east England one of the world’s largest grain biorefineries.
According to Ensus, demand for European-produced bioethanol has been hit by slow implementation of the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive and delays to Voluntary Sustainability Scheme approvals over the past six months. This delay has created market uncertainty for European producers.
At the same time, the European bioethanol market has continued to draw in biofuel imports, primarily from the US. These imports, said Ensus, take advantage of loopholes in EU import legislation to avoid established tariffs, bringing bioethanol of uncertain origin and sustainability into the European market
“Ensus remains committed to operating and growing our European business,” said a company statement. “However, to ensure the long-term health of the business for both our customers and our employees, we have decided to temporarily shut down our facility while market conditions remain depressed.”
The company said it expected the market to improve in the coming months as implementation of the regulatory framework for biofuels catches up with the agreed EU legislation.
The £250-million Ensus facility started commercial operations in March 2010. It has capacity for up to 450 million litres of bioethanol a year from about one million tonnes of feed wheat, and also to produce 350,000t/yr of animal feed.
Annual production of the Ensus biorefinery is expected to meet about a third of the UK requirement under the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation, which requires 3.5% of all transport fuel to come from biofuels.
