When CCR Energy acquired the former Aberthaw Power Station, we inherited more than a major brownfield site. We also took responsibility for 18 million tonnes of pulverised fuel ash, held in a mound which has long been part of the local landscape and which now raises a much bigger question about how Wales makes use of the industrial materials left behind by its past.
At the point of acquisition, that ash could easily have been viewed as a liability. It was material left on site, within a registered landfill, regulated and monitored through Natural Resources Wales. One option would have been to manage it as it stood, or to look only at relatively straightforward uses such as fill, roads or backfilling on site.
But over the past couple of years it has become clear that the conversation needs to be wider than that. We have been approached by a number of organisations and institutions, each with different views on what the ash could be used for and what it could be worth. Some have focused on its potential use in the built environment. Others have pointed to more innovative techniques which could extract or separate elements within the ash and open up different applications.
The range of views is both encouraging and challenging. It is encouraging because it suggests there may be more value in the ash than was first assumed, and it is challenging because value is not yet clearly defined, and because not every idea that works in a laboratory will be viable at scale.
For CCR Energy, the task now is to move from interest to evidence, and from evidence to a clear roadmap. We need to understand what is technically possible, what is commercially realistic, what regulatory steps would be required, and what kind of partnerships would be needed to make any long-term reuse of the ash work in practice.
For this reason we have been taking a deliberately open-minded approach. We are not backing one technology, one company or one market over another. Our priority is to establish a baseline of data and then use that to test the different propositions being put to us.
Over the past year we have taken 24 boreholes to a depth of 30 metres and are now going through a more detailed technical analysis to understand what is in the ash. Once we have that baseline, we want to use it to engage with the market and explore whether some of those components can be commercialised.
The process has to be grounded in reality. There have been claims made about the value of ash which vary significantly, from very modest figures to much larger numbers. We need to demystify those claims and understand where there is genuine opportunity. If it costs far more to extract value than the value we can recover, that has to be recognised. Equally, if a route creates wider benefits over a much longer period, that also needs to be part of the discussion.
Value does not only mean pounds and pence. Of course, CCR Energy has a responsibility to its shareholders and to the public investment that has been made in the site. We need to understand how income could be generated and how any future activity could support the long-term viability of the project. But if the ash can support circular economy outcomes, reduce reliance on virgin materials, contribute to innovation, or create benefits over a 30-year period, those are also part of the value equation.
This is particularly relevant because CCR Energy is owned by the public sector. We were established by Cardiff Capital Region Corporate Joint Committee, with investment from the 10 local authorities of South East Wales. That brings with it a responsibility to consider not only a commercial return, but also wider policy objectives around recycling, reuse, future generations, economic growth, jobs, skills and innovation.
We are still at the beginning of our journey. The funding already in place has been focused on acquisition, demolition, clearance of the site and partial remediation. As we look to future opportunities around the ash, we know we will need to work with partners. That could include further public investment, innovation funding, private sector investment or collaboration with companies that have both established market experience and an interest in developing new applications.
What is clear is that CCR Energy cannot, and should not, take all of the risk up front. If organisations see a genuine opportunity in the ash, then the partnership model has to reflect that. We will need shared investment, shared risk and a clear understanding of what each partner brings to the table.
We also need to be conscious of the local community. The ash mound means different things to different people. Some see it as part of the landscape and even as a barrier from the wind coming in from the channel. Others dislike the way it affects views. If we reach the point where ash is removed at scale, the community will need to be taken on that journey with us, and safety measures around dust, handling and excavation will have to be central to any plan.
Time is one of the factors that gives us room to make the right decisions. We are not being asked to move the ash within the next 18 months or two years. What we do need in that period is a plan and a roadmap which helps us understand what can be done, whether some of the ash can support innovation, whether some can generate revenue, and how those different routes could work together.
The opportunity at Aberthaw may ultimately be in the material itself, but it may also be in what the process helps us build around it: stronger partnerships, clearer routes for industrial resource recovery, better links with universities and colleges, and a more practical understanding of how legacy materials can support future economic activity.
