UK biomass plant's commissioning end date 'under review due to COVID-19': LCCC

London — The target commissioning window end date for the 299 MW Tees REP biomass plant project on Teesside is currently under review in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, UK state-owned Low Carbon Contract Company has told S&P Global Platts.

The plant's target commissioning window start date was July 31, 2018 but LCCC's register does not yet contain information on a commissioning window end date.

This is the date from which the clock starts on a project's 15-year Contract for Difference (CfD) support.

"Milestones including Target Commissioning Window End Date and Longstop Date are subject to change in light of Force Majeure events (of which COVID-19 could constitute one example), which generally grants a day-for-day extension to contractual milestones," an LCCC spokeswoman said in an email.

LCCC had been in touch with generators throughout the pandemic with regard to potential impacts from force majeure events, the spokeswoman said.

Any claim, potentially delaying start-up of a CfD period, required a generator to demonstrate causation between any delay to a project and the force majeure event, she said.

The Tees REP plant is due to start operating on March 14, according to LCCC's register.

Project owner MGT Teesside Ltd said earlier in February it could not comment on the latest start date, which represents further slippage in a timeline stretching back to the plant's initial commissioning date of July 2018.

In annual accounts published last July, project company PKA TEES REP Holding said the COVID-19 lockdown from March 23, 2020 posed a risk of "further delays to the construction of the project."

Since the project was awarded a 15-year, index-linked Contract for Difference at GBP125/MWh in 2014, the strike price has risen to GBP145.22/MWh ($201.69/MWh).

Once operational the plant is forecast to produce 2.3 TWh/year running at baseload.