Anaerobic Digestion

This innovative process turns organic waste material into renewable energy.

The way in which anaerobic digestion harnesses nature to produce power demonstrates the social, environmental and economic benefits that ground-breaking green projects can provide.

Plant and animal waste is placed inside heated sealed tanks to be digested by naturally occurring micro-organisms. The resulting biogas can be used to produce electricity. The material left over is rich in nutrients and so can be sold as an organic fertiliser. Only organic matter is used and the process is entirely waste-free as even the heat from the engine used to produce the electricity power is recycled.

Anaerobic digestion plants provide a sustainable and renewable source of energy without creating a carbon footprint or contributing to landfill, which is why they have been recognised by the United Nations Development Programme as one of the most useful decentralised sources of energy supply. They are also popular with governments in countries such as Denmark and Germany, who are the most advanced in the development of green technologies.

The plants are particularly suited to rural areas, where advantages include low-cost land and labour, high volumes of the feedstock material with short supply lines and an immediate market for the energy produced.

We are in the final stages of planning to construct a new plant in Devon, in the UK. The plant will be connected directly to the national grid to keep the cost of energy transfer as low as possible, which, added to the already favourable economics of anaerobic digestion, should help to produce a healthy return for investors. We anticipate successful completion of the planning stage by the end of Q3 2011.