£4m in Grants to Entry in Biogas Production Market

The take-up of biogas as a renewable energy source in the UK has been fairly slow in comparison to other European countries, but recent announcements of further investment and changes in legislation means the future for biogas is much brighter.

Anaerobic digesters can significantly reduce agricultural methane emissions, provide biogas for renewable energy and produce fertiliser.

Biogas is the gas produced by the breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen, one type of which is produced by anaerobic digestion – the fermentation of biodegradable material such as manure and energy crops.

The resulting biogas can be used as a fuel for heating or to generate electricity and the waste product, digestate, can be used as a fertiliser.

In Germany there are more than 3,500 plants providing around 5.4billion hours of electricity, which is in stark contrast to the UK where there are only a handful of farm-based plants and larger commercial units.

Bio-digesters could be split into two categories, explained David Collins, biogas specialist at the Renewable Energy Association. These are: small farm plants, usually digesting manure and energy crops, which are usually integrated into the current farm infrastructure; and commercial plants, often larger in scale, licensed to import animal by-product waste and able to charge gate fees.

Mr Collins said that, while income from a farm digester was limited to producing energy to be used on site and perhaps a little extra, which could be sold to the National Grid, the future for these smaller digesters was ‘very bright’.

“In general there are lots of planning applications going in and there are very few barriers. The farming situation is the tightest financially, but it can still work.”

From April next year, newer, higher cost technologies – such as biogas generation – will attract more support than lower-cost, established technologies such as wind power.

The CLA hopes this will boost emerging technologies and enable them to compete on an equal footing in the long term.

“This has led to a huge surge in interest among farmers and land managers.

“Existing companies, who give advice on anaerobic digesters, are very busy doing quotes etc so that their clients can get plans up and running for April next year,” he said.

In terms of capital investment, the costs of a digester varied from farm to farm, depending on plant requirements and the current infrastructure, said Lucy Lewis from the anaerobic digestion and biogas specialists Greenfinch.

However, for a plant to deal with slurry from 200 dairy cows and wet energy crops, such as wholecrop cereals and maize, it could cost in the region of £200,000-plus.

The Government has recently announced that £10million will be in invested in building several anaerobic digestion demonstrator sites similar to one completed last year in the West Midlands.

The biodigester facility, located at Ludlow, Shropshire, was supported by both Defra and Advantage West Midlands and was completed by Greenfinch.

The plant processes local food waste and then converts the green waste to biogas. This contains 60 per cent methane, which it harnesses to produce energy in the form of renewable electricity and hot water.

It supplies a significant proportion of the site’s electricity needs and recharges the electric food waste collection plant, which serviced the plant.

View the Farmers Guardian story by clicking here.

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