EQTEC PLC (AIM:EQT), an AIM-listed energy technology company, said it will cease its Billingham combined heat and power project in Teesside to cut costs, citing the UK’s “challenging market conditions”.
The company’s chief operating officer Jeff Vander Linden, said the decision “underscores our strategic commitment to engaging with projects developed by others, where we can focus on profitably integrating and licensing EQTEC technology”.
"We announced in our 2022 results that we had avoided potential costs totalling €18 million across our portfolio and a good share of those were related to the Billingham project," Vander Linden said.
The company had planned to build a combined heat and power facility at Haverton Hill that used fuel derived from refuse waste, which could have provided 25 megawatts (MW) of electricity for the national grid and up to 35 MW of thermal heat power.
While Eqtec had the permissions required to build the plant and secured more than enough feedstock, discussions with potential off-takers for the project’s energy output stalled when candidates were forced to close their own facilities in Teesside.
Eqtec cited “political pressure” owing to demand for new connections from other projects, as a reason behind the termination of a grid connection agreement with Northern Powergrid Holdings Company.
It said it remains in talks with haulage company Scott Brother about options for recovering its investment in the project, which is estimated to total £4 million, with any outstanding amount likely to count towards an impairment expense for the relevant accounting period.