In the UK, specialist bioenergy infrastructure fund manager Iona Capital Ltd (Iona) has announced that it has partnered with Grocontinental, one of the country’s leading storage and distribution companies to develop a 2 MWe biogas power plant adjacent Grocontinental's distribution and storage facilities in Whitchurch, Shropshire.
According to a statement, the Salop Biogas facility is an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant that is being developed in a joint undertaking between Iona Capital and Shropshire based Grocontinental. The AD plant is located on a dedicated 5 acre site adjacent to the extensive Grocontinental food industry distribution and storage facilities in Whitchurch, Shropshire.
Much of the agricultural feedstocks to fuel the AD plant will be provided by a cooperative of over 12 local farms, which due to continuing low milk prices have been forced to diversify out of dairy farming. Organic fertilizer in the form of liquid digestate from the AD process will be used on these local farms to replace chemical fertilizers during the crop growing seasons.
The AD process will generate over 2 MW of electricity that will provide renewable energy to the meet a large proportion of the electrical demand of the extensive temperature controlled warehousing facilities within the 35 acre Grocontinental site and help to make the site significantly more self-sufficient in terms of its energy consumption.
The value of the project has not been disclosed.
