Countrystyle Recycling has today (April 26) announced further expansion after the organics recycling firm purchased the Halstead Renewable Power Project from Glendale Power.
Under the deal, which was completed for an undisclosed sum, the Kent-based company will now forge ahead with the development of a 45,000 tonne-a-year capacity anaerobic digestion facility at Halstead in Essex.
Glendale Power, which will continue to work with Countrystyle to help deliver the plant, received planning permission for the anaerobic digestion (AD) facility on the Bluebridge Industrial Estate in March 2011 from Essex county council.
It is anticipated that the plant will treat food waste from kerbside collections, supermarkets, restaurants, industrial sources and would also make use of specially-grown energy crops. However, Countrystyle was unable to divulge whether any feedstock contracts are currently in place.
The proposed plant will generate 1.9MW of renewable electricity – sufficient to power around 3,000 homes – and the 1.2MW of heat produced by the process may be used by other occupants of the industrial estate.
And, further to this, digestate created in the AD process will be used as a soil conditioner for improving local clay soils.
Detailed designs for the plant will now be drawn up, with Countrystyle aiming to begin construction on the Bluebridge site in early 2012. The firm anticipates having the plant operational in late 2012.
Energy
Commenting on the purchase, Mat Stewart, managing director of Countrystyle Recycling, said: We believe that anaerobic digestion has the potential to deliver substantial environmental benefit by closing the loop in returning nutrients to the soil and recovering the energy from materials that would otherwise go to waste.
It is often difficult to achieve all of the potential benefits of AD, as there may not be ready markets for the heat or the digestate. What makes this site so attractive is that there are good markets for all of the products.
Jeremy Elden, managing director of Glendale Power, will work on the Halstead project in a consultancy position on a part-time basis.
He said: Countrystyle is an acknowledged leader in organics recycling and we are looking forward to working together on this progressive scheme. Glendale will be retained as a partner in the project, and we will combine our strengths to develop an AD plant that sets the highest standards.
The purchase of the Halstead Renewable Power Project comes hot-on-the-heels of Countrystyle being granted planning permission to develop a joint AD and MRF plant in Kent (see letsrecycle.com story).
Further to this, Countrystyle is also developing another AD facility in the London borough of Bromley following the purchase of TJ Composting in April 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).
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