A previously confidential internal report into the University of East Anglia's £10.5m biomass power plant, which never worked properly, has revealed the project was marred by a string of failings, including not understanding the risks of the scheme.
And the highly critical independent report into a project, which had been hailed as key to cut the UEA's carbon emissions, but was never run continuously and was abandoned in 2014, stated:
• The UEA was 'driven' by a need to meet a timescale to qualify for a DEFRA grant and bypassed normal procedures
• Decision making was driven by time and cost, rarely by risk
• There was 'a lack of due diligence' around the scheme
• There was no proper 'feasibility study' or recognition of 'untried technology' as a constraint within the brief for the project
• The panel was sceptical about whether the engineers had appropriate knowledge and experience of gasifiers to successfully undertake the project
The biomass plant - which would have seen woodchip used to produce power - was announced in 2007. Contractor Refgas was picked and the technology seen as key to reducing carbon emissions at the UEA, while increasing the amount of electricity generated on campus.
However, despite £10.5m being spent on capital costs alone, the gasification process in the scheme never worked as intended.
And a Freedom Of Information request has shed new light on the project, unearthing a report into the troubled scheme by Adapt Commercial Ltd.
The request was submitted by Suzanne Jones, who has campaigned against the £370m Generation Park near Thorpe St Andrew, also backed by the UEA.
That scheme was withdrawn this year, but Prof Trevor Davies - a former pro-vice chancellor for research, enterprise and engagement at UEA, who was also involved in the biomass plant project - has said he is keen to revive it in the future.
The UEA initially refused to release the 2014 report, but, after Mrs Jones complained to the information commissioner, the institution was ordered to provide it.
The report states that, while there was 'logic' behind the UEA's decision to select a biogas gasification plant, on the advice of an independent consultant, the technology was new and 'unproven'.
The report said: 'Once the decision was taken, the estates team appear to have been driven by a need to meet a timescale to qualify for a DEFRA grant.
'The estates team seem to have struggled to find a proven technology at scale, but were introduced to Refgas, who convinced them that their design would work.
'With time pressing and due diligence on Refgas incomplete, the standard procurement and contracting processes were bypassed.
'The panel believe this was driven by pressure to ensure the project went forward and to qualify for the DEFRA grant'.
The report said that time and cost, and 'rarely, if ever, risk' played the key roles in decision making. It states that it was 'inappropriate' for the decision to buy the biomass plant to be based on the lowest cost and that it appeared 'proper procurement procedures were overridden by the need to secure a £1m DEFRA grant'.
The panel made a string of recommendations for the future, particularly around risks and concluded: 'In the case of the gasifier project, it would appear the university cannot say it was fully informed of the risks (and it should have been on a project of this size)'.
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