Green electricity gets the go-ahead in Wales

Green electricity in Wales has been given a boost as its first ‘green electricity' plant in Powys gets £60,000 of extra funding from the Welsh Assembly Government.

Bank Farm - a facility that has been generating methane gas for heat energy for 16 years - will now be extended using the Materials Action Programme grant to use the gas created to generate renewable green electricity to the network for the first time in Wales.

The facility has been using anaerobic digestion - a process where natural organic materials like plant waste, animal slurry or food waste from industry or the home is broken down by bacteria to form methane gas - to create heat for years but the facility will now be extended to use the gas to fuel a generator that will create electricity.

Although there are thousands of anaerobic digester plants operating in Europe and around the World, this will be the first in Wales operating using industrial food waste.

Local farmer Clive Pugh from Bank Farm worked with The Wales Environment Trust – an organisation set up to help businesses recognise the commercial value in waste management – to secure the funding and develop a business plan.

He said: “Companies have been producing electricity using bio-gas for years in other countries like Germany with huge success and it's something I've wanted to do for years and years, but without funding it was just a pipe dream.

“Richard from the Wales Environment Trust has been fantastic in helping us get the funding we needed. He said he'd do it and he always keeps his word.”

Richard Carter from the Wales Environment Trust worked with Clive. He said: “The Bank Farm development has all the credentials for a really successful business model that can be repeated throughout Wales and the rest of the UK. It helps industry by keeping costs down, it generates renewable electricity, it provides a digestate product that is much improved for use on land and it keeps wealth from the agricultural industry in the rural economy.

“The Welsh Assembly Government and the Wales Environment Trust want to increase the anaerobic digestion capacity throughout Wales and Bank Farm is a great example of how successful it can be as a commercial operation.”

Not-for-profit organisation Wales Environment Trust (www.walesenvtrust.org.uk) offers support and advice to potential reprocessing businesses in all areas of recycling and waste, including household waste, commercial and industrial waste, recycled aggregates (mineral waste), bio-waste such as kitchen and garden waste and local authority support.

Please contact Richard Carter at the Wales Environment Trust on 01633 811875 if you are interested in finding out more about anaerobic digestion.

09/05/2007