Offering energy-intensive businesses large-scale development land, energy and utilities in one location

Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ: WLFC) (“WLFC” or the “Company”), the leading lessor of commercial aircraft engines and global provider of aviation services, announced today that its subsidiary, Willis Sustainable Fuels (UK) Limited (“WSF”), has selected Wilton International in Teesside, a site owned and operated by Sembcorp Utilities (UK) Limited, as the location for its Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) project. The new facility aims to produce 14,000 tonnes of SAF annually beginning in 2028 and is expected to deliver in excess of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional jet fuel.

NatPower UK has secured an agreement with Sembcorp for a 32-acre site at Wilton International in Redcar to deliver a 1GW / 8GWh lithium-ion Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), one of the UK’s highest-capacity and longest-duration projects and the first to combine utility-scale grid storage with dedicated port electrification infrastructure. Fully privately financed and representing a £1bn investment, the Teesside GigaPark will operate at four hours' storage capacity (4GWh) initially, with potential to double to eight hours (8GWh).

LanzaJet, a leader in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) technology and producer of SAF, today announced the selection of the site for their next production facility, Project Speedbird, in Teesside’s Wilton International. LanzaJet has partnered with Sembcorp Utilities (UK) Limited, a wholly-owned entity of Sembcorp Industries Ltd, to develop an ethanol-to-SAF facility at Wilton International in Teesside, UK. Through a collaboration with British Airways, Project Speedbird will produce over 90,000 tonnes (30 million gallons) of SAF and renewable diesel annually.

Recycling and the circular economy are in Wilton International’s DNA. This could explain why it is the location of choice for many leading energy-intensive businesses and selected by companies using recycled feedstocks to produce goods ranging from chemicals and plastics to fertilisers and sustainable fuels. Perhaps it’s not surprising, therefore, that as Sembcorp Energy UK (the company that owns much of the land at Wilton International and supplies energy and utilities to on-site customers) clears land to create new development plots and opportunities for business, the company incorporates circular economy and sustainability principles into its activities.

Wilton International and Teesside provide a perfect example of industrial clustering - businesses profiting through co-location and working together to rise to a challenge. The value-adding benefits of business clustering are well-documented and apply across a broad range of sectors. Locating within hotbeds of excellence can enable companies to innovate, boost productivity and grow. In well-known examples of clusters such as the City of London, or the high-tech Cambridge Cluster, the emphasis is on a geographical concentration of sector knowledge and expertise (primarily intellectual capital), as well as supply chains and business networks. Knowhow is at the heart of industrial clusters too, and in the case of process industry – chemical manufacturing, for example – shared access to physical infrastructure is also a key driver of co-location, delivering significant value for businesses.