Biodiesel plant 'needs support' to avoid closing
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One of the UK's last biodiesel plants could be forced to shut over financial pressures, according to the company that runs it.
Paul Bateson, chief operating officer at Greenergy, which runs the plant at Immingham Docks on the Humber Estuary, told 5Live's Wake Up To Money that the company was undertaking a strategic review of the site's future, but warned they needed support soon to keep the plant viable.
Biodiesel goes into diesel used in cars, public buses across the UK and lorries. In particular, it is used in busses to try to bring down the carbon emissions they produce.
"The market for manufacturing biodiesel across Europe is in a very poor state at the moment", Mr Bateson said.
He added: "Margins are very poor, energy costs are high, staff costs are high and we are struggling to compete with this alternative renewable fuel HVO in the UK, which is coming in in a subsidised form from the US."
According to Mr Bateson, when hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) is produced or blended in the US, the companies doing that work receive credits from the government, which he said stayed with the product when it comes to the UK, making it cheaper.
It is an issue the Government here in the UK said it had been looking at, but time appears to be running out.
Greenergy's Lincolnshire site is one of just four left across the UK, after Ardent Energy mothballed a similar facility near Motherwell last year.
Mr Bateson said: "I think it's incredibly important that the UK has its own biofuel and biodiesel industry, it brings jobs in the UK, these are skilled people.
"It brings resilience (in terms of supply) and it brings an alternative supply source. If we're totally reliant on one supply source then prices can hike."
The Department for Business and Trade said in a statement: "We understand some of the challenges that the sector is facing and are working closely with them to understand their concerns.
"Our independent Trade Remedies Authority is also investigating whether US HVO is sold in the UK unfairly and causing harm to UK producers, and ministers will decide if action is required once the investigation has concluded."
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