Renewable energy company Tamar Energy has announced that it has completed construction of three of its new anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities in England.
Built as part of the ‘first wave’ of facilities in Tamar’s commitment to create a network of around 40 plants by 2018 and generate 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity and gas from food waste, the three new plants are situated in Hampshire, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire, and have a combined capacity of 6MW.
The three plants have received the ‘seeding’ feedstock, which signals that the final steps are underway in the commissioning process. This process typically lasts three months and includes all safety checks before the plant is brought fully online.
Plant details
The three plants that have reached commissioning are:
Basingstoke, Hampshire
Tamar Energy’s first operational plant will process around 30,000 tonnes of food waste and be capable of producing 1.5MW of renewable energy
Holbeach Hurn, Lincolnshire
A joint venture with food producer and processor AH Worth & Company, the Holbeach Hurn plant is expected to process around 30,000 tonnes of food waste when in operation, producing 1.5MW of electricity.
Retford, Nottinghamshire
The Retford plant will process maize, manure and other agricultural food waste and will generate up to 3MW.
A fourth AD plant in Essex is still being built as part of the ‘first wave’ and is expected to be ‘fully operational and accepting food, farm and other organic feedstock in early 2014’, along with the other three plants.
Once operational, the Essex facility is expected to process 45,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial (C&I) food waste and produce 2MW of electricity.
‘Culmination of two years of hard work’
Speaking of the commissioning phase, Alan Lovell, Chairman and Chief Executive of Tamar Energy, said: “It’s fantastic to see our first facilities reach this milestone, as the culmination of two years of hard work by our team. It’s a great achievement for everyone involved in the company to have got to this point so rapidly, and is a sign of our commitment to the future of AD here in the UK.”
As well as the three plants now in commissioning, Tamar Energy has a number of other facilities in development, including sites in Bromley, Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, Ramsbottom near Bury, and Evercreech in Somerset.
Tamar Energy is backed by an investor group of blue chip partners and investors led by RIT Capital Partners plc and Fajr Capital, alongside the Duchy of Cornwall and Sainsbury’s, which is also a strategic operating partner.
Read more about Tamar Energy’s 40-plant plan.
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