A NATIONAL “green” energy provider based in the East of England has secured a deal with British Gas putting it at the cutting edge of renewable gas production in the UK.
Bio Group, based near Ely, is to work with British Gas on the construction of a facility at Stockport, Greater Manchester, which will convert commercial food waste into renewable gas.
The �5million development, which will operate as Fairfield Bio Energy, has been agreed following Bio Group’s successful launch of Adnams Bio Energy at Reydon, in association with Southwold brewer Adnams, and is due to open in April next year.
It will use food waste from local hotels and restaurants, and British Gas’s offices, to generate enough gas to supply up to 1,400 homes every year.
“We are delighted to be working with British Gas,” said Steve Sharratt, chief executive of Bio Group. “Fairfield Bio Energy has been designed using our groundbreaking technology as the next stage of a national roll out of anaerobic digestion plants.”
Anaerobic digestion can produce gas from a range of organic materials such as cattle slurry and food or household waste. The gas consists mainly of methane and has similar thermal characteristics to natural gas which, once upgraded to specification, can be injected into the gas grid.
According to a study by National Grid, biomethane it could account for 15% of the domestic gas market by 2020.
Gear�id Lane, managing director of communities and new energy at British Gas, said: “This project will be the third renewable gas facility we’ve opened, coming hot on the heels of our partnerships with Thames Water and Scotia Gas Networks and Adnams Bio Energy.”
British Gas and Bio Group are also founding partners in a scheme launched earlier this year that will bring certainty to green-minded consumers that the gas they buy comes fully from renewable sources.
The Green Gas Certification Scheme (GGCS), which has been established by the Renewable Energy Association working with industry, tracks bio- methane through the entire supply chain to provide certainty for those that buy it
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