Plans to construct a new bioethanol plant at Stallingborough in north east Lincolnshire are progressing well, according to the Spanish bioenergy company, Abengoa.

The company has yet to receive planning permission to build the plant, but its cereals procurement specialist, Simon Lunnis was optimistic of getting the go-ahead for building this year.

When fully operational around 2010 the plant will take around 1.1m tonnes of UK and imported wheat and will be twice as big as Abengoa’s largest existing plant in Spain.

“It’s a lot of wheat to procure and we want a good relationship with UK growers,” he said.

Abengoa has three plants in Europe (all in Spain), four in the US and one plant under construction in France using maize as the feedstock. It also has projects in northern Germany and Rotterdam.