Project Overview

Whitchurch Biogas Ltd. (“WBL”) was formed in May 2016 and construction commenced with investment from IEILP2. WBL is an anaerobic digester situated on the outskirts of Whitchurch in north Shropshire, with a peak electrical generating capacity of 2.55MW.

The site is located adjacent to Grocontinental Ltd, one of the country’s leading temperature controlled storage and logistics providers to the food industry. Grocontinental have partnered in the development of the plant and will also take the majority of the electricity generated by WBL via private wire, thus allowing the majority of Grocontinental’s 3MW peak electrical demand to be serviced by green energy. The feedstock for the digester with consist of crops, agricultural residues and whey permeate residues from nearby dairy processors and cheese making facilities. The crops are grown by a co-operative of over 10 local farms in the vicinity of the plant, who will also take the digestate produced by the plant to be used as a bio-festiliser.

The site has been constructed by Williams Industrial Services (“WIS”), a leading contractor in the AD industry in the UK and Ireland. WIS provide a bespoke plant built around flexibility for the AD process with the electricity being generated through four 637kW ECOMAX Jenbacher engines provided by AB Impianti. FBW Engineering Services are acting as project manager and CDM co-ordinator for the site during construction and ​Advantage Biogas, a leading AD operator, will operate the plant when completed. 

The plant will benefit from government support for the provision of green energy in the form of renewable tariffs and residual heat is also proposed to be utilised to maximise the efficiency of the plant.

Progress

The plant is currently ramping up with maximum generation planned to commence from Q4 2017.