Iona Capital Ltd, a leading investor in the UK biogas market, has completed an investment in a second anaerobic digestion (“AD”) plant in Scotland. The plant, located at Charlesfield near St Boswells in the Scottish Borders, will process a mixture of farm based feedstocks and inject biomethane directly into the local gas grid. This project follows on from Iona’s first Scottish project at Coupar Angus, Perth, which is expected to start its commissioning process shortly. The Charlesfield, St Boswells plant is Iona’s eleventh AD project in the UK and its second gas to grid facility.
The plant is expected to be operational by the end of Q2 2015 and will produce over 3m m3 of biomethane per annum which will be injected directly into the local gas grid. Iona has once again teamed up with MT Energie, the German AD specialist and Scotia Gas Networks (SGN) who will source the network entry equipment and oversee the projects connection to the gas grid. The project was initiated and developed by Iain MacKinnon and Trevor Jackson of Charlesfield First LLP. Biogas Power will be responsible for the day to day operation of the plant. Waverley Farm Contracts Limited sources local feedstock supplies on a long term basis for the plant.
The project is in line with the Scottish Government’s roadmap for renewable energy as it will produce clean renewable energy sufficient to provide the annual energy requirements for over 1000 households. The UK currently imports over 50% of its gas requirements which is expected to increase to 70% by 2020 with the forecast decline in North Sea production. Energy security is therefore an increasingly critical issue and alternative solutions are being sought. An established UK Biogas industry could supply up to 10% of the UK’s total gas requirements.
Nick Ross, Director at Iona Capital said: “Iona is building a diverse portfolio of biogas assets in the UK which produce renewable energy. The biogas market continues to offer significant long term growth potential and attractive risk weighted returns to investors.”
Iain MacKinnon of Charlesfield First LLP said “Trevor Jackson and I were very pleased to work with Iona as experts in the funding and delivery of AD projects.”
Read more in The Scotsman article.
