Adnams could soon be providing more than beer from its brewery in Suffolk after the company today announced it has completed the construction of the first anaerobic digestion plant in the UK capable of feeding biomethane into the national gas grid.
Adnams Bio Energy Limited, a spin off from the company owned by Cambridge-based Bio Group, said that the new system would being feeding biomethane into the grid later this summer as part of an agreement with British Gas and National Grid.
The technology, which was part funded by grants from the European Regional Development Fund, East of England Development Agency and the Department of Energy and Climate Change, uses three digesters to break down local food waste and waste from the brewery in order to produce biomethane and a liquid organic fertiliser.
Adnams said the plant should produce enough gas each year to heat 235 family homes for a year, although around 40 per cent of the gas generated onsite will be used to power the Adnams brewery and run its fleet of lorries, while the remaining 60 per cent will be injected into the National Grid.
There are over 50 anaerobic digestion plants in the UK, but the Adnams facility is the first to include technology capable of upgrading the quality of the biomethane to meet grid specifications.
National Grid has in the past estimated that biomethane produced from organic waste could ultimately be used for up to 15 per cent of domestic gas consumption. A number of firms, including high profile green energy provider Ecotricity, are now currently racing to develop anaerobic digestion plants that can feed gas into the grid.
Steve Sharratt, group chief executive at Bio Group, said the company was aiming to use the new facility as a template for future grid-connected anaer obic digestion plants. "This facility has been designed using our groundbreaking technology as the first stage of a national rollout of AD plants," he said. "We use innovative, low-carbon building techniques to produce energy through a completely organic and natural process. Nothing is wasted."
The project will also further bolster Adnams credentials as one of the UKs greenest firms. The company is also working on plans to install solar water heating and solar photovoltaic systems in an attempt to create a "mini energy park" that ensures both the brewery and the company's distribution centre run entirely on renewable energy.
Adnams chief executive Andy Wood said that anaerobic digestion technologies were a natural fit for the companys brewery operations. "The reality of being able to convert our own brewing waste and local food waste to power Adnams brewery and vehicles, as well as the wider community is very exciting," he said. "The industrial ecology cycle is completed when the fertiliser produced from the anaerobic digestion process can be used on farmland to grow barley for Adnams beer."
The announcement comes just days after the government launched a major new consultation exercise designed to identify policies that can help accelerate the rollout of anaerobic digestion systems.
Source: www.businessgreen.com
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