Willen Biogas has hired Xergi to develop and operate its new waste-to-energy plant in Enfield, London, the UK.This 27,000tpa plant will generate renewable power for the grid.
It will recycle organic waste matter and make it into agricultural fertilizer.Large amounts of food are wasted every day by households, restaurants and food industry in London.
The C new biogas plant will ensure extraction of energy from waste, while nutrients will be recycled for farms.This project is aimed at increasing the share of renewable energy in the UK and making agriculture production around London greener.
Willen Biogas’s shareholders include Adrian Williams, Howard Williams, Brian Williams and Mark Lennon, and Foresight Group’s two managed investment funds – Foresight Environmental Fund and UK Waste Resources and Energy Investments Fund, which it manages for the UK Green Investment Bank.
D Williams & Co is the project developer, which also owns Cattlegate Farm in Enfield, where the biogas plant will be constructed.
BDO has assisted in arranging financing of the plant.Foresight partner Nigel Aitchison said: “This project is a welcome addition to the growing waste to energy infrastructure that is supporting London in its ambition to become a world leader in waste and recycling.
“This is the second project where both the Foresight Environmental Fund (FEF) and the UK Waste Renewable Energy Investments (UKWREI) have invested alongside each other to provide the majority of the equity and the first where they have provided the full project capital needed.”
D. Williams & Co partner Adrian Williams said:”As a business we have always looked into diverse operations that compliment agriculture, respect the environment as well as trying to achieve government targets.
“With the location of the farm as close to the centre of one of the major population capitals of the world, we could see a huge potential for a food waste fed anaerobic digestion plant. Having done various amounts of research into the technology available for biogas plants Xergi gave us the confidence that we needed to commit to them for the building of our facility.”
Xergi, with over two decades of experience in constructing biogas plants, has developed a biogas technology which can extract energy from several kinds of organic waste and other biomass.
As per the contract terms, Xergi will deliver a turnkey-ready biogas plant to Willen Biogas.Besides, Xergi will be responsible for the commissioning of the plant and the subsequent operation for two years.
For this purpose, Xergi will set up a new organisation for efficient operation of the plant.The plant will be equipped with a pre-treatment facility that can separate plastic residues from organic waste.
The plant will feature an engine plant that can generate 1.5MW of power for around 1,750 households.
Xergi CEO Jørgen Ballermann said: “We are proud that we now have the opportunity to help make London’s food and energy production greener. Our technology is particularly suited to this task and we therefore look forward both to building the plant and the responsibility for operations.”
The plant’s construction began in August 2014 and is likely to become operational in May 2016.
