Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council is auctioning off a waste treatment facility that has lain unused for the past two years after taking control of the site through court action.
The 6.5-acre biomass gasification combined heat and power (CHP) and waste recycling complex on Pengarnddu Industrial Estate has been put up for auction with property firm Lambert Smith Hampton, and the listing has a guide price of £10,000.
The facility contains two gas generators with an output of 1,000 kilowatts that the listing says are ‘in poor repair’, having been inoperative for at least the last two years.
Prior to its repossession, the site had an operating permit for up to 500 tonnes of waste storage, but Lambert Smith Hampton says that records suggest the plan only operated at full load for 46 hours.
According to Simon Rigall, Director & Auctioneer at the firm, the previous owner bought the site to burn waste, but had used the wrong sort of waste in the machinery, causing it to seize up.
The site also has 14 years left of accreditation under Ofgem’s Renewable Obligations Scheme.
As part of the sale, any buyer will be obliged to submit a deposit with the council, which will be returnable should the buyer remediate the site within three years, including the removal of a large heap of waste still stored there. Should these obligations be fulfilled, the buyer will also be given the option of buying the freehold of the site for £1.
Viewings are taking place today, and the auction will begin on 1 March and last for a day.
Commenting on the sale, Rigall said: “It is rare to find a specialist recycling site of this size with green energy generation plant in place. We expect intense competition from specialist operators who understand its true potential.
“Rather than the traditional ballroom auction, which has worked very well for Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council on previous occasions, an online auction method has been chosen for this particular site – this process allows for a longer period to do essential homework on the site, as well as extended bidding, which gives potential buyers extra time to consider increasing their bid.”
The listing can be seen on the Lambert Smith Hampton website.
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