Plans for new green projects at the Grangemouth oil refinery site in Scotland could reportedly cost up to £13bn.
A feasibility study of possible options for the site – dubbed Project Willow – has listed nine opportunities including recycling plastics and producing biomethane, to create a “flourishing low carbon hub” over the next two decades, according to the Financial Times (FT).
And the cost of implementing the various schemes would require £3.8bn just to build eight of them – with a further £3.45bn needed for additional capacity and to construct an e-ammonia plant.
But a total of £12.9bn, the FT reported, would be needed to secure the “full potential” of all nine ideas, which would include utilising Scottish wind power to generate green hydrogen.
Project Willow is expected to be published shortly, with the Scottish acting energy secretary Gillian Martin telling MSPs the £1.5m report, completed by Ernst & Young (EY) for the UK and Scottish governments jointly with owners Petroineos, was “ready to go” on Tuesday.
It comes after Petroineos – Ineos and PetroChina – announced plans last year to close the oil refinery, converting it to an import terminal, and keeping approximately 65 of some 500 jobs.
Another report warned this month it could take years to bridge the “jobs gap” at the Falkirk site, if any new industries begin working at Grangemouth after the closure later this year.
According to the Independent, Martin said: “Both governments have actually signed off on Project Willow… I’m hopeful that in the coming days we will be reconvening the Grangemouth future industries board with a copy – Project Willow is ready to go.”
Green energy
The announcement comes amid the UK government’s efforts to develop the green energy industry, after pledging before the election to transition to clean power by 2030.
While the news channel STV reported last month that Willow could create 400 jobs in the next five years, rising to 1,750 by 2040.
And the UK and Scottish governments have pledged £200m and £25m, respectively, for viable developments, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hoping the money will attract three times as much private sector funding, as “an investment in Scotland’s industrial future.”
Proposed Project Willow schemes also include transforming waste paper into feedstocks for low carbon chemicals, and longer-term suggestions from 2032 such as a sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel refinery worth £800m, and turning timber into bioethanol.
“Even if only three or four projects make it through, it would be transformational for Grangemouth,” an industry insider told the FT.