Macquarie Capital’s WaveCrest Energy kicked off a market consultation process for its proposed Teesside regasification project in the UK in advance of a planned capacity auction to be launched in the third quarter of 2024.
WaveCrest said in a statement the market consultation process will start on March 18 and close on April 26, and will enable participants to provide feedback on various aspect of the project including design, operational characteristics, and services offered.
“WaveCrest Energy welcomes this input to allow for optimization of the Teesside Flexible Regas Port based on the experience and expertise of industry stakeholders, and to better align the project with market needs,” it said.
The firm said that the project will provide “flexibility and energy security” to the UK, with the potential to deliver up to 248.5 GWh per day of natural gas, equivalent to around 17 percent of the country’s natural gas demand.
Operations to start in 2026
Located in the port of Teesport in northeastern England, the project will contain onshore buffer storage and LNG regasification equipment which will be connected to a dedicated marine jetty for the mooring and unloading of LNG carriers.
Moreover, regasified LNG will be transported from the project site through a short segment of high-pressure natural gas pipeline for delivery into the UK National Transmission System.
WaveCrest claims this “streamlined and cost-effective design will allow for a rapid construction time of less than one year”, with a planned commercial operation date of 2026.
Also, the project is designed to blend imported LNG with incoming North Sea natural gas flows, with the complementary ability to inject nitrogen into the gas stream.
This allows the receipt of supplies from most suppliers around the world providing broad market access while still meeting the UK’s National Transmission System specifications, it said.
Teesport previously hosted an LNG import facility
WaveCrest CEO Rob Bryngelson, said the company’s team has a “long and successful history in working in Teesport dating back nearly 20 years when the port became home to the world’s first dockside LNG regasification project.”
“In support of the project’s efforts, we will continue working with statutory consultees, local stakeholders, and communities as part of the planning process,” he said.
Bryngelson is a co-founder and former CEO of US FSRU player Excelerate Energy.
Excelerate placed Teesside GasPort into service in February 2007 and decommissioned it in 2015 after the facility came to the end of its commercially viable life.
On the other hand, Macquarie Capital, the corporate advisory, capital markets, and principal investing arm of Macquarie Group, launched WaveCrest in 2021 to develop, construct, own, and operate LNG regasification, power, and downstream infrastructure assets.
In 2022, WaveCrest joined the Deutsche ReGas team to help deliver the “Deutsche Ostsee” LNG terminal in the German port of Lubmin.