Industrial gas giant
Air Products and Chemicals Inc.
(
APD
) said that it will construct a major renewable energy plant in the
UK, using advanced gasification energy-from-waste (EfW) technology.
The facility, sited near Billingham, Teesside, in northeast England
will be the largest of its kind globally with a capacity of roughly
50 megawatts (MW).
The plant will produce abundant renewable electricity to provide
power to up to 50,000 homes in the UK. It will divert up to 350,000
metric tons of non-recyclable trash from the landfill disposal
facilities annually, thereby helping to meet the UK's waste
diversion goals.
Air Products noted that it has received the necessary environmental
and planning approvals, and full-scale construction activities will
commence in the coming weeks. The renewable energy facility is
expected to create hundreds of jobs once it comes online (expected
in 2014), providing a boost to the local economy.
Alternative and renewable energy solutions provider AlterNRG is
offering its Westinghouse advanced gasification technology for the
new facility. Advanced gasification is a more effective
energy-from-waste process than incineration and has a lower
environmental impact. Increasing energy demand coupled with
environmental concerns is leading to a global transition towards
waste-to-energy technologies.
The next-generation gasification technology, which has been
successfully deployed in other countries including Japan, offers a
more efficient, cleaner conversion of waste-to-power than
conventional EfW technologies and can generate a broad range of
useful outputs from waste, including heat, renewable hydrogen,
chemicals and fuels.
Air Products offers industrial gases as well as a variety of
polymer and performance chemicals and serves technology, energy,
industrial and health care customers globally. It has a
long-running track record in building and operating large-scale
industrial gas and energy-related projects.
Air Products benefits from a long-term take-or-pay contract, a
consolidated industry structure, diverse customer base and
sustained pricing power. The company's healthy project backlog
strongly positions it to achieve its long-term growth target.
Given its leading position in the gases business, the company is
well positioned to capitalize on the cyclical recovery in its core
industrial end markets. New business deals are expected to support
profit in 2012. However, soaring energy and raw material costs pose
a threat to margin expansion.
We currently have a long-term Neutral recommendation on Air
Products. The company, which competes with
Praxair Inc.
(
PX
), holds a short-term Zacks #3 Rank (Hold).
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