Tech innovation firm EQTEC (AIM: EQT), has named Petrofac (LON: PFC) as its contractor for a waste-to-energy project at Haverton Hill in Billingham.
The two organisations signed a Letter of Intent to collaborate on the front-end-engineering design (FEED) work, and for Petrofac to move ahead as a potential EPC (engineering procurement construction) partner for development and delivery.
Waste-to-energy
EQTEC has secured all relevant permits for the plant, which would convert 200,000 tonnes per year of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to 25 MW of electricity for combined heat and power (CHP).
This will be exported to the national grid, with potential for upto 34MW of thermal energy.
EQTEC has secured the contract for a grid connection and is also pursuing discussions with neighbouring companies about provision of private wire offtake.
The RDF-to-CHP plant will utilise less than 40% of the total land to be acquired by Haverton, and the company is assessing how best to leverage the remaining land and increase the value of the project.
A range of additional facilities including hydrogen production, battery storage and/or hydrogen refuelling are being considered.
These options would be subject to further planning permission and agreement of future owners of the project, which EQTEC intends to sell in whole or in part.
EQTEC, whose shares are up 12% today to .5pence, plans on collaborating with neighbouring industrial companies, partners and potential investors, toward finalisation of development options.
COO of EQTEC Jeff Vander Linden said: “Petrofac has for decades been a leader in delivery of large-scale, complex projects in the oil & gas industry and now are one of the global EPCs moving most quickly to bring that expertise to new energy businesses.
“Our engagement with Petrofac over the past year or so has been interactive and focused, with a dedicated, joint team and open collaboration toward finalisation of the FEED proposal and heads of terms that will support work start and steady progress at Billingham.
“As our largest and most complex project, Billingham represents a wide range of opportunities for innovative application of EQTEC technology in concert with other technologies; but it also requires a different approach to assemble investment.
“By applying flexible funding options and strong partners, I believe we will advance the Billingham project steadily, toward bringing EQTEC syngas-based solutions to Teesside and to the wide range of industrial businesses that will benefit from them.”
FEED partner and potential EPC
EQTEC has been working with Petrofac since 2021 on pre-FEED work, including a review of EQTEC’s technology.
This previous work culminated in Petrofac submitting a proposal for provision of the FEED for the RDF-to-CHP facility.
A formal start date for the FEED, so that prospective investors may be included in consideration of the various site designs.
The Jersey based energy services company has agreed to support EQTEC’s efforts with engagement of funding candidates, in the interest of sharing its views on the delivery strategy.
This includes procurement and integration risks and how it would mitigate them.
Although EQTEC will appoint Petrofac for the FEED work, selection of the EPC partner would require approval of the SPVs’ owners at the time of appointment.
Petrofac shares are up 3.61% this week, bringing share prices to £1.07.
Vice President New Energy Services at Petrofac Jon Carpenter said: “We look forward to supporting the engineering of EQTEC’s Billingham project and to working with their team to de-risk the project leveraging our construction experience of complex process plants to ensure the design is efficiently constructable and operatable.
“We are excited by the potential of the waste-to-value sector in the UK and are excited to be working with pioneers such as EQTEC in turning this potential into reality and delivering the energy transition in the process.”
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