I write in response to your email dated 19th November regarding the TV ERF project following our recent exchange of correspondence.

On behalf of the seven partner authorities involved in the TV ERF project, we feel that we have repeatedly addressed various concerns raised by SINE and that this exchange is now in danger of becoming repetitive.

Many of the concerns you and SINE raised in your last email, related to capacity and commercial considerations, are a matter of opinion about what will transpire in future rather than objective fact – even if you choose to present them as such.

I write on behalf of the Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (TV ERF) project partners, represented by the countersigned, in response to your recent correspondence dated 5th November, which was circulated to various officers and members across the participating councils.

As you are no doubt aware, the TV ERF project is now in an advanced stage of completion following a lengthy procurement process undertaken by a dedicated team of personnel including independent commercial, legal, technical and financial experts working alongside council officers.

I write in response to your open letter addressed to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council (RCBC) published on 2nd January 2025 noting your objection to the Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (TV ERF) project, of which RCBC is one of seven project partner authorities.

As you will be aware from the briefing provided to you by project officers in October 2024, the partner Councils have been working for several years now to find a sustainable long-term solution for treating our region’s residual waste – which is the waste left over after recycling. We are currently in the final stages of a lengthy competitive procurement process, and expect to conclude this in 2025 with the appointment of a Tenderer.

For the past few years, the Councils have been working in partnership to find a sustainable long-term solution for treating our region’s residual waste – which is the waste left over after recycling. In addition to pursuing ever-higher recycling and waste reduction targets, treating the remaining residual waste (circa 450,000 tonnes a year produced by 1.5 million people living and working across the region) will be achieved through the procurement of a new Energy-from-Waste (“EfW”) facility known as the Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (“TV ERF”).

The TV ERF project partners submitted an application to BEIS for “business model support” to help fund the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology at the TV ERF.

The TV ERF is an Industrial Carbon Capture (ICC) project within the East Coast Cluster (ECC) and this application was made under Phase Two of the Cluster Sequencing Process in January 2022.

The project was subsequently shortlisted by BEIS in August 2022 to progress to due diligence ahead of any funding award announcement.

The Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (TV ERF) project has taken a significant step closer to being able to provide a zero-carbon waste management solution to more than one-and-a-half million people living across the North-East, after being invited to participate in the next stage of a process to grant Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) funding support for industrial carbon capture (ICC) projects.