Renewable energy company Emerald Biogas will start work on the North East’s first-ever commercial food waste anaerobic digestion (AD) facility after securing an £850,000 loan from WRAP’s anaerobic digestion loan fund (ADLF). Emerald Biogas has also secured £3.3 million from HSBC, and a £1.86 million grant from Defra’s Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE).
The plant, which will be built on an industrial site in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, is expected to be up and running by 2013 and will process a proportion of the region’s 800,000 tonnes of food waste to create generate heat and electricity.
The first phase of the project, which begins later this month, will see the plant have the capacity to process up to 53,000 tonnes of food waste from shops, supermarkets, manufacturers (as well as organic waste from local farms) to create biogas capable of producing power to heat 9,000 homes. The plant will also generate 47,000 tonnes of digestate (which will be supplied to land owners within a ten mile radius) and 1.4 megawatts of electricity, enough to power up to 2,000 homes. A second phase of development will boost the plant’s capacity to 70,000 tonnes, with the electricity output rising to 2.5 megawatts.
WRAP Director Marcus Gover announced the approval of the loan today (10 August), saying: “The North East has a strong food manufacturing sector but the food waste it currently produces is sent to landfill or for ‘rendering’ – which is an energy intensive measure.
“We’re delighted that the ADLF will be able to help Emerald Biogas build and commission a new, much-needed facility to serve this region.”
Emerald Biogas is headed by Antony and Adam Warren, owners of food waste and recycling company John Warren ABP, and Ian Bainbridge, Director of farming resource management and plasterboard recycling business, Emerald Agricore.
Ian Bainbridge, who is also Director of Emerald Biogas, welcomed the funding, saying: “Emerald Biogas is the first commercial plant of this size in the region and we are delighted to have secured the funding and support to realise the project.
“By harnessing our knowledge of the food waste, agricultural and renewable energy industries and our proven track record in terms of collection and recycling it was a natural progression for John Warren ABP and Agricore to diversify and use our expertise to create an AD facility capable of not only providing renewable energy but also digestate which can be utilised by the agricultural community.”
Emerald Biogas is the second company to benefit from the WRAP ADLF. In January this year, Malaby Biogas received an £800,000 loan towards its AD project in Wiltshire.
WRAP’s £10 million ADLF was launched in July 2011 to support the development of the AD industry and to address the gaps in infrastructure that currently exist.
More information on the ADLF fund can be found on WRAP’s website.
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