Tees Valley Mayor has today (25 February) welcomed an announcement that
a new, lower emission petrol set to be rolled out across the UK
will be produced in Teesside securing local jobs.
E10 petrol, which is a mixture of petrol and ethanol made from
materials such as low-grade grains, sugars and waste wood, will
be rolled out across the country from September.
The Department for Transport announced that one of the companies
set to benefit will be biofuel plant Ensus, based in Redcar,
which will increase its production to develop the new E10 fuel.
Its introduction on UK roads could cut transport CO2 emissions by
750,000 tonnes per year, the equivalent of taking 350,000 cars
off the road and
The news comes after the region recently hit the headlines with
news of another nationally significant production – that Fujifilm
Diosynth Biotechnologies in Billingham is producing 60million
doses of the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine.
Supporting clean transport, it was also announced that the UK’s
first Hydrogen Transport Centre will be located in the area.
Tees Valley Mayor said: “The fantastic news that Ensus, based on the
Wilton site, will be ramping up production on the cutting-edge
E10 biofuel shows once again that Teesside, Darlington and
Hartlepool are leading the way for the whole of the UK in clean
energy, growth and the industries of the future.
“This boost to our bioeconomy complements many other recent
announcements from our region, such as becoming the home of the
UK’s first Hydrogen Transport Centre, leading research,
development and testing of new hydrogen transport technology for
buses, cars, trains, lorries boats and planes.
“And with Net Zero Teesside’s Carbon Capture, Utilisation and
Storage project also in development, to create the UK’s first
zero-carbon industrial cluster, it shows that whether it’s clean
transport or industry, we’re driving investment, spearheading
nationally significant schemes and becoming the place to do
business in these sectors – creating good-quality well paid jobs
for local workers in key industries of the future”
The two petrol blends widely available in the UK today contain no
more than 5% ethanol, known as E5; the fuel being rolled out in
September has up to 10%. Using bioethanol in place of traditional
petrol can reduce CO2 emissions, helping the UK achieve its net
zero ambitions.
Transport Secretary said: “We’re going further and faster than ever to cut
emissions from our roads, cleaning up our air as we accelerate
towards a zero-emission transport future.
“Although more and more motorists are driving electric vehicles,
there are steps we can take to reduce emissions from the millions
of vehicles already on our roads – the small switch to E10 petrol
will help drivers across the country reduce the environmental
impact of every journey, as we build back greener.”
Grant Pearson, Director of Ensus UK, said: “The announcement
today of the planned introduction of E10 fuel by the Department
for Transport is excellent news, not only for the Environment but
for the British Bioethanol Industry. E10 will mean that the
majority of petrol sold in the UK will have lower Greenhouse Gas
Emissions than today, when fully introduced. Lowering emissions
immediately for the current petrol car pool is very important,
especially until electric vehicles can make a larger contribution
to saving emissions in transport.
“The benefits for the UK go beyond the environment, particularly
in the North East where the Ensus manufacturing facility is based
and supports thousands of jobs both directly and in the supply
chain.”
