Green light for 45,000tpa AD plant in Warwickshire

Warwickshire county council approved the development at a meeting on February 8.

The plant will be built, owned, and operated by BiogenGreenfinch and will treat up to 45,000 tonnes of food waste per year from households, food manufacturers and food retailers in the region.

The plantis expected toproduce more than 2MW of electricity, which BiogenGreenfinch said was enoughto meet the annual demand of up to 2,000 homes – equivalent to the combined households of nearby Baxterley and Atherstone.

The food waste will be processed by means of anaerobic digestion in order to generate renewable electricity for the grid and a valuable biofertiliser for use on the surrounding Estate and other farmland.

Richard Barker, BiogenGreenfinch chief executive, said: We are excited about being involved with this market-leading project. Merevale is an excellent site for an AD plant centrally located with excellent transport links to nearby large population centres.

This is a definite win-win-win project we are diverting food waste from landfill, we are generating renewable electricity for the national grid and also delivering a fantastic biofertiliser for crops on the land around the plant. We look forward to working with local food waste producers in the coming months and years to make this plant a success.

Estate

Merevale & Blyth Estate was granted the original planning permission in 2010 for the construction of an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant and biomass plant at the Baxterley Shale Tip Site.

Philip Blackman, chief executive of Merevale Estates -a privately owned and managed landed estate -said: We are delighted to be working with BiogenGreenfinch in this ground breaking project. Their proven track record in delivering AD plants, contracts in the industry and expertise with biofertilisers makes them an ideal partner to anchor the first phase of this centre for renewable energy in North Warwickshire.

BiogenGreenfinch is a designer, manufacturer and operator of food waste anaerobic digestion plants. The company has three facilities already in operation in Shropshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire with a network of plants planned around the country.