Air Products – what happens now?

“It was inevitable,” tweeted Jarno Stet, waste services manager at Westminster city council.

“Reluctant to point out I said this would happen but I will,” tweeted consultant Nigel Mattravers.

Even Impetus Waste Management, the firm contracted to supply RDF to the doomed Tees Valley project, had the foresight to begin putting in place alternative arrangements for its feedstock well in advance of the announcement.

So what happens now? A number of questions remain over the fate of the 350,000-tonne capacity TV1 facility and its identical sister plant, TV2.

Air Products has stated that it will look to “optimise the value of its investment” – suggesting it aims to sell the site and its associated plasma gasification technology. But who would invest in a technology that has plagued development of the waste treatment hub for more than two years, and why, remains unclear.

One source close to the project told letsrecycle.com it would have cost Air Products hundreds of millions per year to run TV1 at full capacity. The plasma torches alone could have cost up to £200,000 each with regular replacement likely.

If the technology really was so challenging or even unworkable, Tees Valley could be remembered as one of the most expensive waste infrastructure blunders in years. Frustrating for all those involved – and embarrassing for the UK government, which was looking to Air Products to provide power on behalf of its Energy for Growth programme over a 20-year fixed period.