AN engineering firm has been appointed to drive forward a £160m Teesside power station.

WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff is supporting the Port Clarence Renewable Energy Plant, near Middlesbrough, which is expected to generate electricity for thousands of North-East homes.

Parsons says engineers from its Middlesbrough office are providing project management, design work and construction supervision.

The power plant, which is anticipated to create about 30 direct jobs and support 300 construction posts, is expected to burn up to 250,000 tonnes of waste wood every year, to provide energy for 75,000 properties.

Work on the factory started late last year, with the building due to start work in 2018.

Phil Morland, WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff’s energy project manager, said the company is delighted to be supporting the £160m project, adding it will draw on its experience of previous such schemes, which include the Gateshead District Energy Centre.

He added: “This low carbon development is important as an addition to the North-East economy and for helping the UK achieve its 2020 renewable energy targets.

“We are working collaboratively with key stakeholders to ensure the project meets and exceeds expectations.”

Plans for the power station were unveiled more than two years ago and had been overseen by developer Eco2 Limited and investor Temporis Capital, on behalf of Port Clarence Energy Limited.

However, it was sold to clean energy investment specialist Glennmont Partners, with Eco2, which secured planning permission in 2014, remaining responsible for managing the site.

Eco2 is now working with the Babcock and Wilcox Volund and Lagan Construction Group joint venture on construction.

In December, The Northern Echo reported how ground had been broken on the project, with Councillor Bob Cook, leader of Stockton Borough Council, ceremonially starting the development.

At the time, David Williams, Eco2 chief executive, said: “This is the third project we have completed with Glennmont in the past four years, and, as a team, we have amassed unrivalled experience in the development, construction and operation of biomass projects throughout the world.”

Proposals to build a biomass factory on the site, which is next to Koppers UK chemical plant, were first revealed in 2009, but were dashed when the company behind it struggled to attract funding.

Bio Energy Investments had wanted to build a futuristic plant, designed by internationally-renowned Heatherwick Studio, to imitate South-West London’s Battersea Power Station by creating an iconic feature.

The plans would have used nut husks from Malaysia, and fitted the factory with a volcano-shaped tower and viewing platforms, as well as soil stacked against its sides to turn the area into a park for walking and tobogganing.

Heatherwick later designed the London Olympic Games Cauldron, which was created in a former aircraft hangar by Stage One, in Tockwith, near Harrogate, in North Yorkshire.