Tetragen is in advanced talks to sell the Knapton Green Energy project near Malton to an undisclosed Asian investor and is expected to reach financial close on the project later this quarter.
Construction of the project is likely to be funded through a mix of equity and debt, one of the sources said, adding that EPC and O&M contracts have been signed on the project as well as a power purchase and waste supply agreements.
The project has a 9.9 MW grid connection with Northern Powergrid but could generate up to 12 MW of electricity, according to planning documents.
Knapton Green Energy, which originally secured planning permission in 2018, won a variation from North Yorkshire council on 16 March this year to increase the volume of waste it can receive from 80,000 tonnes-per-year to 130,000 tonnes-per-year.
The variation request was filed by Tetragen and its development partner NCG Estates, a UK property developer.
Their application also requested a change in the waste feedstock type from solid recovered fuel (SRF) to lower calorific value refuse derived fuel (RDF).
The project was originally designed to process SRF using gasification technology, however the project will now use a “different type of combustion chamber”, according to the planning documents. An increase in RDF throughput is required to maintain an equivalent electrical output.
A switch in the technology for the plant comes as several developers around the country have also varied planning on their projects to use proven waste treatment processes other than gasification, including Equitix and Iona Capital’s Bridgwater EfW plant and Bioenergy Infrastructure Group and Hills Group’s Northacre Renewable Energy project near Swindon.
Tetragen, which declined to comment on the sale, was founded in 2012 to build and operate waste plants. Darrell Smith, the managing director of the business, is listed as a person with significant control of the business on UK register Companies House.
