RNS

7 October 2021

SIMEC ATLANTIS ENERGY LIMITED
("SAE", the "Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")

SAE Uskmouth permit update

SAE has been advised that the Welsh Government will now itself decide on the permit variation application for the conversion of the Uskmouth power station and has blocked the independent Natural Resources Wales (NRW) from making a determination.

NRW, which was leading the determination, had previously indicated that it was minded to award the variation to the existing permit, subject to conditions after a further round of public consultation, initially scheduled for September. Following a reported internal legal review of this decision by NRW, SAE has been notified that NRW have been directed to refer the application to the Welsh Government. This direction has been left to the very end of the NRW process and follows over a year of detailed information sharing between SAE and NRW, which included experts from across Wales, the UK, Europe, and Japan feeding in to demonstrate how the conversion meets all requirements set out by the relevant legislation.

This further delay is a blow to South Wales and this vital green energy project at a time when the country is facing an energy crisis with intermittent renewables and a dependency on imported gas causing unsustainable price rises for homes and industries across the UK. The Welsh Government is putting at risk a project that will produce negative emissions, create hundreds of jobs in the Newport region, deliver hundreds of millions of pounds in investment and deliver the critical decarbonisation that industries in the region including steel and data centres require to make them sustainable.

The conversion will be powered by fuel pellets that are derived from non-recyclable waste, destined for landfills and the oceans. A delay to this project will not reduce the production of this waste but instead result in the continued shipping of plastic waste to other countries for it to be burned or the digging of deeper holes in which it will be buried.

SAE is a proud developer of innovative renewable projects and believes that transitional technologies like Uskmouth are key to achieving a successful journey to net zero. The power station is already built and permitted to burn coal, which it could continue to be doing today.  SAE is seeking a variation to this permit to switch to a sustainable fuel source with significantly lower carbon emissions, and will utilise carbon capture and usage to sit alongside it to deliver negative emission electricity generation.

SAE will consider all available legal options and will seek to ensure that the Welsh Government understands how critical this project is to South Wales, Newport, to key industries and the hundreds of employees whose jobs are at risk.

SAE and its project partners are convinced that the conversion of coal fired power stations to run on fuel pellets will play a significant global role in the journey to decarbonise and provide an attractive option for the tens of thousands of operating and in construction coal fired power stations around the world. SAE is already in discussions, alongside its project partners, to find further locations to deploy the technology and fuel.

For more information please contact:

Notes to Editors

SIMEC Atlantis Energy

SAE is a global developer, owner and operator of sustainable energy projects with a diverse portfolio in various stages of development. This includes a 77 per cent. stake in the world's largest tidal stream power project, MeyGen, 100 per cent. of the 220MW Uskmouth Power Station conversion project and 100 per cent. of Green Highland Renewables, a leading developer of mini-hydro projects.

https://www.simecatlantis.com/

More on the MeyGen Project: https://simecatlantis.com/projects/meygen/

More on the Uskmouth Project: https://simecatlantis.com/project-development-operation/simec-uskmouth-power/