Iona Capital (“Iona”), a leading environmental investor, has committed a further £20m to construct two new Anaerobic Digestion plants in the North of England.
Gravel Pit Biogas, is a gas to grid plant located near Sand Hutton, York. The plant will process circa 35,000 tonnes of cattle manures and silage from the local farm and inject over 2m cubic metres per annum of biomethane into the local gas grid. The AD plant is being supplied by PlanET and the biogas will be upgraded using Prodeval’s “Valopur” membrane system. The project is consistent with the Government’s initiatives to encourage renewable energy from waste sources and will qualify under the Renewable Heat Incentive. Anaerobic Digestion allows the extraction of a significant energy value from each tonne of feedstock slurry processed yet still using the residue as valuable fertilizer.
New Mill Biogas is located near Easingwold in North Yorkshire. The plant will process 40,000 tonnes of manures and silage from local farms and generate up to 2MW of electricity which will be exported to the grid network. In addition surplus heat from the CHP will be used to dry wood chip pellets that can be used as a renewable fuel in biomass boilers. The plant is being supplied by Williams Industrial Services and the CHP by Edina. The plant was pre accredited under the Government’s FiT scheme in October 2015.
Both projects have been developed by JFS and Associates with whom Iona have a long established and close commercial relationship.