EQTEC extends option to acquire a waste management project in Southport

EQTEC paid Rotunda £100,000 for the exclusive option to buy the project.

EQTEC a global gasification solutions company, said an option to acquire a waste management project in Southport has been extended due to COVID-19 delays.

The waste-to-energy company announced last September that it had an exclusive option to take full ownership of the Southport Hybrid Energy Park project from a local company, Rotunda Group Ltd.

READ: EQTEC shares heat up after it eyes waste-to-energy project in Southport

“Despite best efforts by all parties to conclude the acquisition prior to the end of the option period, an unanticipated COVID-19 related delay occurred and this has led to the mutually agreed extension to the option period to 30 September 2021,” EQTEC said.

The parties have agreed all commercial terms, are in the final stages of the legal process and expect the acquisition to be completed in the coming weeks.

Background information: The proposed project is expected to create dozens of local jobs during construction and once operational, as well as deliver significant economic and environmental benefits to both the local community and to local industrial energy users with no harmful or toxic emissions.

The site currently has planning permission for a waste recycling facility, an anaerobic digestion facility, and 9 MW of electrical generation with 2 MW of battery storage, exporting 11 MWe to the grid annually. 

The Phase 2 would see Advanced Gasification Technology applied to the project to make it capable of converting over 55,000 tonnes annually of refuse derived fuel waste, which would be created by the proposed plant and otherwise destined for landfill or incineration, generating an estimated additional 6-8 MW of ‘green’ electricity.

 The local authority is supportive and keen to have the plant in place as an environmentally-positive and credible alternative to incineration technologies for processing waste.