A PLANNED £25m biodiesel complex at Seal Sands could help the Tees Valley become the country's leading area for green fuels and renewable energy.

The complex is said to be the largest in the world - and it is also hoped the largest biomass power station in the UK will be built on Teesside.

The Biofuels Corporation says its biodiesel complex will create 75 direct jobs and another 200 spin-off jobs at Teesport, where raw materials will be shipped in, using neighbouring storage facilities.

North-East farmers could benefit, however, as the company is interested in taking oilseed rape for biodiesel production from local sources for the first 250,000-tonne complex.

It will also import palm oil and rape oil to be converted into biodiesel.

That fuel will be mixed at 5pc with standard diesel before being delivered at garage pumps to run standard cars and trucks, significantly cutting carbon dioxode and sulphur emissions and improving engine efficiency.

The Middlesbrough-based Biofuels Corporation is completing private financial backing for the scheme and will lodge a planning application with Stockton Borough Council this month.

The firm chose Seal Sands after it received the backing of One North-East and a £1.2m Regional Selective Assistance grant to help fund the building of two initial plants on the site, with the prospect of three more to follow.

The plant, planned for a brownfield site, will be the most advanced in the world.

John Nicholas, Biofuels' chief executive, said Seal Sands had everything they could have asked for. "It is strategically located for excellent transport links and, of course, has a well-developed chemicals infrastructure," he said.

"It has a deepwater port on its doorstep and available storage. Most importantly, there is a wealth of skilled people living in the area whom we can recruit to work at our complex."

He praised One North-East, Teesside Chemicals Initiative and Tees Valley Development Corporation for doing everything they could to support the project.

Alan Clarke, chief executive of One North-East, said the agencies had worked hard to help the company, which had also been attracted by the global reputation of the Tees Valley chemicals infrastructure.

"The complex will create high quality jobs with a product that has great environmental benefits in a huge marketplace," he said.

Building work could start before the end of this year and be completed by late 2004.

The plant will take 21,000 tonnes of vegetable oil a month, converting it into biodiesel, which standard cars will be able to use without conversion.

Coun Bob Gibson, chairman of the Tees Valley Development Company and leader of Stockton council, described the plan as "a tremendous boost to our efforts to establish our area as a centre for the rapidly growing renewable energy sector".

Dermot Roddy, chief executive of Renew Tees Valley, which promotes renewable energy and recycling developments in the area, said he was delighted with the news. "It will help breathe life into the work we are undertaking to create a cluster of economic activity around bio-mass technologies," he said.

Dr Ian Click, chief executive of the Teesside Chemical Initiative, said it would make the Tees Valley a major player in the new fuels sector.

Robin Twizell, of RMD Agriculture and REFA, who is currently recruiting farmers to grow coppice to feed the proposed biomass plant on Teesside, also welcomed the scheme for what it would mean for the Tees Valley area.

He hoped the biodiesel plant would use locally-grown oilseed rape and said the spin off benefits for the area, if both the plants went ahead, would be tremendous.