Energy down on the farm

Mar 8 2010 by Kelley Price, Evening Gazette

THE TEES Valley could become a UK hub for organic waste-to- energy after securing Government funds for a leading research centre.

The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) at Wilton has been handed £1m to build an anaerobic digester (AD) development centre.

The news came as Newton Aycliffe company Emerald Biogas announced the first commercial plant of its kind to turn food scraps and farming waste into green power, creating 150 jobs.

Dr Graham Hillier, director of strategy at Wilton-based CPI, said: “AD will be pretty big in the UK, we can easily accommodate over 1,000 plants. This will unlock opportunities for anybody that is trying to improve AD and make the Tees Valley a centre for proving and upscaling.

“It’s a good way of turning animal slurry or anything that’s organic into energy but the technology is still quite basic. We will learn how to build smaller, faster and more efficient plants.”

The project is undergoing a fast-track tender following the cash award by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which could see the centre up and running later this year.

Meanwhile, the Emerald Biogas plant will divert 100,000 tonnes a year from landfill and make enough green electricity and heat for up to 9,000 homes and a valuable crop fertiliser.

A research and development facility will also be attached.

John Barton, projects director with Wilton- based Renew, part of CPI, which has helped finance the Newton Aycliffe plant, said the project could unlock further investment by becoming a showpiece for others to view.

“AD is an interesting technology, that allows us to get real value from organic food waste and it’s commercially viable because of the Government support it gets, yet nobody has wholeheartedly taken it up yet. There isn’t much in terms of supply chain in the UK.

“At a domestic level, nobody’s grasped the nettle with segregated food waste. It will happen, as the Government forces us to put less and less material in landfill - it’s only a matter of time.”

Emerald Biogas, a partnership between John Warren ABP Ltd and farming company J&S Bainbridge, will use food waste from Teesside butchers, manufacturers and supermarkets.

Director Antony Warren said the plant would help reopen more traditional markets for farmers.

“We are also in talks with people on the industrial estate to supply them with the heat through a combined heat and power (CHP).”