Baglan Bay
Baglan Bay is a part of the Swansea Bay coastline and a district of Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. Baglan Bay is also the name of a local government community. Baglan Bay is served by the M4 Motorway and the A48 road which traverse the northeastern edge of the area.
History
In the 19th century, coal, tinplate and pottery were exported from Baglan Pill. In 1963 BP opened petrochemical plants at Baglan Bay, partly to benefit from the proximity of the BP oil refinery at Llandarcy, which could supply feedstocks.The plants produced 125,000 tons of petrochemicals during the first year of operation. The main products were ethylene, ethylene dichloride, propylene, butadiene, and isobutylene. Several other companies built chemical plants at Baglan Bay. Forth Chemicals, had a styrene monomer plant within the BHC site. The petrochemicals complex produced alcohols, styrene, olefins, and benzene from the mid-1960s, and vinyl chloride monomer and polyvinyl chloride from the early 1970s. By 1968, BP Baglan Bay was one of the largest petrochemical sites in Europe, employing 2500 workers at its peak in 1974. Other companies with plants at Baglan Bay included W. R. Grace and Pfizer.
However, market changes led to the gradual closure of the facility between 1994 and 2004. There were concerns about the incidence of cancer and mortality near the Baglan Bay petrochemical works.
Baglan Energy Park
Following the final closure of BP's Baglan Bay plant in 2004, the site was re-developed by BP, the Welsh Development Agency and Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. Baglan Bay power station, a 500 MW combined cycle gas turbine power plant operated by GE Power Systems was built and the remainder of the land was earmarked for a business park, the Baglan Energy Park. Businesses locating at the park benefit from low cost electrical energy from the power station. Several plots are now developed with tenants or with speculative office and industrial premises available to let. A paper mill, Intertissue, part of the Italian paper tissue manufacturing company Sofidel Group, was completed in September 2006. The Energy Park is also home to the Baglan Bay Innovation Center, the Sustainable Product Engineering Centre for Innovative Functional Industrial Coatings project, Hi-Lex Cable System Ltd, Remploy Ltd, Montagne Jeunesse, headquarters for Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, and headquarters for Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council's service response centre.New facilities are under construction for Shield Medicare Ltd and the University of Glamorgan’s Hydrogen research and demonstration centre. Developer TCN UK is planning to develop a. development called The Exchange which is expected to provide office space for 400 workers.