Ensus shutdown: Bosses say it's 'high time' decision was made on green transport fuel

Ensus says it’s “high time” an EU decision was made to speed up the use of green transport fuel, following the shutdown of its Wilton bioethanol plant.

The £250m facility stopped production again last month due to “current difficulties in the market”, which the company says could continue throughout the first half of 2015.

Its 102 staff, based at Wilton and Yarm, have all been retained. It’s estimated the shutdown will impact around 2,000 supply chain jobs.

Ensus’ parent, Germany-based CropEnergies AG, has not given a date for reopening the plant, which uses wheat to make bioethanol to be blended with transport fuel.

And while it refuses to comment on “specifics of its operations”, bosses are waiting for a key announcement next month on changes to the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED).

The directive sets a binding EU-wide target of 20% final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020. To achieve this, EU countries have committed to reaching their own national renewables targets ranging from 10% in Malta to 49% in Sweden. The UK’s target is 15%.

But a recent financial update by CropEnergies said a major price slump for bioethanol, caused by the “sluggish implementation of political objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering oil consumption in the European transport sector”, was taking its toll.

The delay, it says, comes at a time “when European capacities for the production of high-quality renewable alternatives to fossil fuel have been expanded in reliance upon political priorities”.

A CropEnergies AG spokesperson said: “We expect a decision on amendments to the Renewable Energies Directive (RED).

“We hope that once a decision is made, the member states will start putting their biofuel plans (National Action Plans) into practice. “Amending the directive has been under discussion since September 2012, so it is high time a decision is made.

“Bioethanol is an important player in the decarbonization of the transport sector.

“The EU needs it to lower GHG emissions and to become more independent of oil (and protein animal feed) imports.

“We believe that bioethanol as a renewable fuel needs to be a part of the future of transportation because of its environmental and economic benefits.”

The company has seen a “significant” rise in its biofuel production since buying the five-year-old Ensus plant in 2013, claiming the increase is down to better utilisation of the Wilton asset.

Ensus also supplies dried animal feed and carbon dioxide for the drinks industry.

The shutdown is the fourth in the plant’s history. Odour problems from its giant stacks meant the facility had to come offline just weeks after opening in 2010, followed by a further 15-month shutdown in May 2011. The third, in April 2013, was also due to ‘adverse market conditions.’