Waste wood energy operator Evero has submitted a planning application to retrofit its Ince Bio Power Plant in Cheshire with carbon capture technology, in a move that would make it the UK's first Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) facility delivered under the government's Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) Business Model.
The facility, located at Peel NRE's Protos energy and resource hub near Ellesmere Port, is already one of only two projects on the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero's Track-1 expansion Project Negotiation List. Once operational, the carbon capture retrofit is expected to remove 217,000 tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere annually.
The Ince plant has operated since 2018, gasifying 170,000 tonnes of domestically sourced waste wood per year — including old furniture and construction timber that cannot be recycled — to generate electricity for around 125,000 homes and businesses. Evero plans to transform the existing low-carbon asset into a carbon-negative operation by adding capture technology to the site.
Protos gives occupiers access to the planned HyNet North West carbon transport and storage infrastructure, including the Protos Spur pipeline, designed to handle around 980,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year and providing a route to permanent offshore geological storage.
Richard Barker, development director at Peel NRE, said the plans demonstrated 'how the right infrastructure, in the right location, can unlock investment in technologies that will transform the way we generate energy and tackle climate change', adding that the project positioned the North West 'at the forefront of the UK's clean industrial revolution'.
Evero's application follows construction starting on an adjoining carbon capture plant by Encyclis, which is pursuing the UK's first fully decarbonised energy-from-waste facility at the same site.
Evero submits application for UK-first BECCS facility under GGR business model
