Waste management "specialists" New Earth Solutions did everything they could to keep their multi-million pound contract with Scottish Borders Council alive and kicking throughout 2014 even though the project had been suffering from dead duck syndrome long before that.
As we reported previously, the latest wheeze was a suggested switch from gas engine to steam technology which would fire the incinerators at Easter Langlee and deal with the region's 40,000 tonnes of municipal rubbish.
But unfortunately, to render the steam option viable the plant would require up to 70,000 tonnes of garbage, generating a need to import vast quantities of waste from outwith SBC's territory.
Meanwhile the ingenious head honchos at NESG were offering to export all of the Borders rubbish by road for treatment elsewhere until Easter Langlee was commissioned - hopefully although not definitely in 2017.
The evidence contained in recently released "secret" files from the vaults at SBC suggests an air of growing desperation and a clutching at straws mentality as the gas-based NEAT technology continued to misbehave and the only way of securing £23 million to build the Borders plant appeared to be via the National Lottery or the Euro Millions!
Here's what one member of the project team had to say about the steam solution and the prospect of taking local rubbish in fleets of lorries for treatment in North-east England:
I note the potential steam solution. A key issue looks as if
it may be third party volumes - is it realistic that 70/80k tonnes RDF per
annum could be sourced for a plant at Easter Langlee - there surely must be
some doubt here.
"The interim residual waste treatment solution is potentially interesting. It is another matter, of course, whether whatever might be offered would save cost to the Council in the interim compared to continuing disposal to landfill.
"Also, we should be mindful that the purpose of the moratorium (and its hoped-for outcome) is to see if a clear way forward can be found for the final residual waste treatment solution and within what timescale, so we might not wish to pursue any interim solution unless and until satisfied following the moratorium that the final residual waste treatment solution is judged to be technically viable, fundable and likely to be implemented within a satisfactory timescale."
But steam treatment for Borders waste was firmly knocked back by SBC's technical consultant who wrote: "In summary, we feel that the adoption of a steam-based solution would be a retrograde step. The steam solution could be costlier, require additional merchant capacity to be affordable, necessitate changes to planning and permitting and would not be capable of retro-fit to gas engines should this be shown to be technically feasible in the future."
There were warnings too that continuing delays could completely derail the council's waste treatment strategy.
A senior officer expressed concern in an email dated August 2014: "Overall, to me, there are positives but we need to be careful that the re-financing news and the possible steam option is not masking the poor performance of Canford (R&D centre for NEAT technology) and NES’ appetite to continuing to pursue gas to engine technology.
"Ultimately we need to bear in mind that we are on a relatively short timeline for delivering a project to meet the first Zero Waste target in 2021, if NES fail to deliver. The latest SBC would need to start is April 2017. Therefore we need to make sure that between now and October (2014) NES are focusing on a viable option to deliver the project and not stalling for additional time."
The method of paying for the major scheme at Galashiels had also shifted yet again. None of the range of banks and finance houses named in previous correspondence had been persuaded to sign up, and now eyes were turning to bigger fish and across the pond to New York.
An August 2014 email showed just how wide NES were casting their net. In it the managing director himself told SBC: "Pairing up with a larger fund – We are currently speaking to both EY (Ernst & Young) and PWC (Price Waterhouse Cooper) about identifying larger funds who would co-invest alongside NERR to provide finance directly to future NESG projects. This review has identified a number of funding partners and a first line of due diligence is being undertaken to identify the most suitable.
"Funding directly into the project – During the Avonmouth
refinancing process the senior debt provider has been asking us if they can now
invest directly at the start of our next projects. Scottish Borders has
featured prominently in this conversation however, the existing funder would
probably expect that the solution is a steam based energy project because they
have now got themselves comfortable with the proven nature of this technology.
"We have also now received approaches from a number of other funders who have
been watching the operability test and have indicated that they would now be
comfortable lending directly into this technology.
Sale of non-core business – In September we are on target to
complete the sale of one of our non-core green / food waste processing
businesses. This is highly confidential at the moment and we would appreciate
you not forwarding this information onto any of your advisers.
"We will be making
a press announcement at the appropriate stage. Some of the proceeds of this
will repay the senior debt attached to the contracts, however, the majority
will be returned to NERR (the Isle of Man fund which repeatedly failed to come up with cash for Easter Langlee)."
Despite the reticence of their own experts on the issue of a steam system for Easter Langlee, and the complete lack of funding as of August 2014, a delegation of councillors and lead officers from the council returned from a "fact finding mission" to the NES Avonmouth plant two months later declaring their ideal solution for dealing with Borders rubbish was on track.
How wrong could they be?
NEXT: DRAWING OUR OWN CONCLUSIONS
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