Thousands of cattle were slaughtered during the BSE crisis

For the past 50 years the Wilton power station near Redcar, has burned fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas.

But new owners Sembcorp want to use tallow - the fat from the rendered cattle - to drive their generators.

The animals are those destroyed at the height of the BSE crisis.

The company says the move will provide "greener" energy.

The company said studies carried out on its own behalf and for the government, showed the safety risk was "negligible".

The Singaporean-owned firm is negotiating with the government's Rural Payment's Agency to buy about 100,000 tonnes of the rendered animal fat.

The tallow is from cattle culled as part of the over 30 month scheme, put in place by the then Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food, in 1996 to support the beef market in the UK in the wake of the BSE outbreak.

Under the scheme cattle aged over 30 months were taken out of the food chain, even if they had not shown signs of BSE.

The company wants to use fat from these "healthy" cows.

Sembcorp, which bought the former Enron power station in April, says it has lodged an application for �10m in state aid to help build a �38m plant that would create environmentally friendly energy.

The company intends to heat burners to 1,000 degrees centigrade before injecting the liquid fat.

A dozen tankers a day would transport the tallow from storage facilities in Merseyside and the South East, where it has been since 1996.

The company says there could be enough fat to generate power for almost two years.

A Sembcorp spokesman said the 580 workers at Wilton had already been consulted about the plan.

A spokesman for Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council said the authority had no doubts that the process was safe.

The Environment Agency says it is waiting to see the company's proposals.

A period of consultation to gauge public opinion begins today.