(L-R): His Royal Highness, Prince of Wales and John Ibbett, Chairman of Biogen, on the tour of the plant
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has visited Wales’s first anaerobic digestion (AD) plant ‘built specifically under the Welsh Government’s renewable energy policy’.
The £5 million GwyriAD plant, situated at Llwyn Isaf former waste landfill in Gwynedd, North Wales, has been financed by Gwynedd Council, energy company Biogen, equity firm Iona Capital and the Welsh Government. It forms part of the Welsh Government’s renewable energy policy, which aims to produce 15 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
Once the facility begins full operations at the end of the summer, the GwyriAD plant is expected to process 11,500 tonnes of commercial and household food waste supplied by Gwynedd Council’s new weekly food waste service.
The food will be subject to a mix of bacteria, which will break down the organic material in the absence of air, producing a biogas containing methane which can be used to produce electricity. In this way, the facility hopes to generate 3,500 megawatt hours per year of renewable electricity for the national grid, enough to power 700 local households a year. The facility will also produce digestate, a biofertiliser for use on local farmland.
Royal tour
Visiting the site on Wednesday (3 July), His Royal Highness was greeted at the plant by Biogen Chairman John Ibbett, Iona Capital Director Nick Ross, and Gwynedd Council Chairman Councillor Huw Edwards, before being given a guided tour.
Speaking of the visit, Richard Barker, Chief Executive of Biogen, said: “We are delighted that His Royal Highness took the time to have a personal tour of the plant.”
Nick Ross, Iona Capital Director, added: “The AD industry has the potential to produce significant volumes of sustainable biogas which will reduce the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels and our carbon footprint.”
To mark his visit, the Prince of Wales planted an autumn spire rowan tree at the GwyriAD site.
The Prince of Wales has been a vocal advocate of the AD process, with the Duchy of Cornwall – the estate held by each successive Prince of Wales – opening the UK's 'first' commercial scale AD and biomethane-to-grid plant as part of its J V Energen joint venture in Poundbury, Dorset last year.
Read more about the GwyriAD plant.
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