SembCorp Utilities put the Fat in the Fire Impact Home page

Factsheet

SUMMARY

SembCorp Utilities UK, owners of Wilton Power Station, sought to burn 110 thousand tonnes of rendered cattle fat (tallow) in their boilers, to earn Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCS) - a new currency to trade in the electricity market.

The fat comes from the carcasses of cattle slaughtered at the peak of the BSE crisis in 1996, when the government ruled that all cattle over 30 months old must be killed

Following several periods of consultation, and a trial burn, The Environment Agency gave the company permission to burn the lot

This briefing looks at some of the facts and issues.

BACKGROUND TO THE BID

Today, Wilton Power Station is a fossil fuelled producer of process steam and electricity for use on the Wilton chemical site, with surplus electricity sold on to the Grid. As a 'combined heat and power' (CHP) scheme, it's more efficient than most power stations - but the gas, coal, and fuel oil burned in the boilers are significant producers of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

Under growing statutory and economic pressure to clean up its act, SembCorp has laid long term plans to install new plant fuelled by biomass - principally wood from forest thinnings and fuel 'crops' like short-rotation willow coppice, all sourced from within 50 miles. Once commissioned, probably in 2007, it will earn the company valuable "Renewable Obligation Certificates" to trade in the open market, to make the venture profitable.

So far so good.

Some £10 million of the capital cost of the new plant will come from a lottery grant (on the grounds that it will aid rural employment!)- but the rest must be borrowed from the banks, who don't have much confidence in this new market. So SembCorp must first convince the bankers they're able to compete and profit by using 'renewables'.. And they reckon that burning tallow in the existing boilers, plus selling the ROCS earned, is the best way to show the bankers they know what they're doing.

The tallow they have in mind is most of the national 200,000 tonne stockpile stored for many years in tank farms on Merseyside and near London, with nowhere to go other than high temperature burning. It piled up as a result of the BSE crisis in 1996: one of the measures taken to contain the disease and restore confidence in British beef was the "Over Thirty Month Scheme" - a death sentence on all older cattle, which had to be removed from the food chain and the breeding stock, for fear that they could carry and pass on BSE.

TALLOW

When animal carcases are rendered, the liquid fats separate out from the meat and bone, and are extracted as tallow. Tallow has long been used in the manufacture of candles and foodstuffs (soups, sauces, etc) and increasingly in pharmaceuticals as a 'shell' for the active ingredients in pills and capsules.

With the uncertainty still remaining about how BSE spreads among animals, or emerges as nvCJD (new variant Creuzfeldt-Jakob disease) in human beings, the tallow from the cull has to be kept out of the human food chain.

Health experts assure us that burning at high temperatures is the 'least risk' option for this tallow.

Why choose tallow ?

Because it is there ! What's more, the government is desperate to get rid of it, it's an expensive embarrassment. Even so, the price is high, substantially more than the coal equivalent - because at least 39 bidders want a share of the OTMR stockpile. SembCorp secured an option as preferred bidder for 110,000 tonnes.

A STRANGE CLAIM

Of all the 'biomass' fuels (biodiesel for instance) that could be used as a substitute for the fuel oil that goes into the burners, SembCorp assure us that only this tallow is readily available.

Considering that SembCorp is a member of North East Biofuels, a consortium led by One North East dedicated to supplying and marketing biofuels derived from rape seed oil, it's a claim to be treated with considerable suspicion!

How Green is our transport ?

With burners on Teesside and silos of fat in the south-east and Merseyside, there's a problem. The answer according to SembCorp is up to fifteen road tankers every weekday making the return trip between the silos and Wilton. Apparently alternatives like sea transport aren't viable. Once on Teesside, the tallow will be stored in tanks awaiting use.

How Green is our electricity ?

The government classes ALL animal derived biomass as a 'renewable' fuel, and allows 'co-generation' - burning alongside fossil fuels - until 2006. European law also rates tallow as a renewable. Though clearly no-one has any intention of renewing this fuel !

There are various energy 'costs' in this scheme that compare badly with more orthodox renewables, such as local wind or passive solar power. Even after the initial rendering process, the tallow must be heated for transportation between stores, and in preparation for burning. Gas must be used to heat the boilers to the 1000^o required for 'safe' combustion. Bringing the tallow to Teesside will use serious amounts of fossil fuel, plus risk and congestion (at least one objector claims these impacts will be substantially higher than the company claims). And finally there are electricity transmission losses as the power is transmitted back to where the tallow came from.

All the same, Wilton will be burning less fossil fuel in its boilers while the tallow lasts - and that is seen as a 'plus' by the Environment Agency.

How safe is it ?

We won't (can't) attempt to answer that one. But there is a consensus among the UK authorities that burning at high temperature is the least risky way of dealing with this material. They are quick to remind us, too, that the cattle slaughtered had not shown any symptoms of BSE.

SembCorp have produced charts estimating the risk to individuals as being miniscule - far less than, they say, being killed by a meteorite. This is based on government research by Mott MacDonald into acceptable uses for tallow, and on a report from URS commissioned by SembCorp.

Others think differently. Kent-based Concerned Parents Against BSE have been particularly outspoken, while local objections include claims that some OTMS tallow was derived from cows showing symptoms of BSE.

Are there better, more certain ways to destroy BSE suspect wastes? A US firm claims it can do it.. After the Ghost Fleet imports, maybe this is our chance to send wastes to the States to deal with !

The COMMUNITY IMPACT

If what SembCorp tell us is true, Wilton will end up with a better and greener power station, with less damaging emissions to the Teesside atmosphere. The security of the jobs at the power station will be maintained. And even during the 18 month 'tallow' period, some of the destructive 'fossil fuel' emissions will be reduced.

The downside ?

• More traffic, for a start - and the impact of that traffic on the communities and other road users along the route.
• The impact of emissions peculiar to the tallow, especially given the uncertainties surrounding BSE
• Prolonging Teesside's image as a dump for unwanted and dangerous materials

The WIDER IMPACT

The nation will be rid of 110,000 tonnes of ugly fat

The downside ?

• The precedent set for future burning of processed animal products, simply to produce income from Renewables Obligation Certificates on the same scale as 'real' renewables earn
• Unnecessary emissions from unnecessary transport

A GREENER SCENARIO?

• SembCorp buy - and use - alternative biofuels for this 'demonstration run', to fulfil just the same purpose
• The tallow 'mountain' is managed and disposed of at least risk close by where it is - or by a demonstrably safer process

THE PUBLIC AND THE TRIALS

The first stage (up to February 2004) showed both SembCorp and the EA itself keeping to the rules of the EA's own 'Tallow Protocol' by encouraging public involvement in assessing this controversial venture. We in Impact have tried to add to the debate with this webpage.

The EA's decision to go ahead with the second stage, a regulated 'trial burn' of 10,000 tonnes of tallow was explained in statements from the Environment Agency itself and from SembCorp, followed by public meetings in Redcar and Eston.

The trial burn has now been assessed and the company's report was made available at Redcar Library or on request from the Environment Agency (David Tartellin, Environment Agency, Swan House, Merchants Wharf, Westpoint Road, Thornaby TS17 6BP

In August 2004 the company finally won the authority from the EA to burn the remaining 100,000 tonnes of tallow. In it's statement, the EA said it could find no significant risk to the environment or people's health from the OTMS tallow, and argued that during the burn, the company's routine emissions of fossil fuel pollutants would be reduced.

SembCorp and the Environment Agency have taken commendable steps to keep the public informed throughout this process. However, the outcome is much the same - local people have once again become the guinea pigs for a process of unknown risk, in an unnecessary venture driven more by pleasing international bankers and corporations than by cleaning up Wilton Power Station.

Finally....

You could join us in the "Impact" group. We're residents, concerned about the impact of industry on our quality of life, our health, and our environment. We're independent of industry and local councils, and we aim to provide a resource and a platform that local communities can trust and use to improve local conditions.