The UK biogas industry has reached a “significant milestone” after figures revealed the number of anaerobic digestion plants outside the water industry has passed 100 for the first time.
There are 106 AD plants in operation, processing up to 5.1m tonnes of food and farm waste every year, with an installed electrical capacity of more than 88MWe, according to the figures compiled by the National Non-Food Crops Centre and WRAP. Another dozen plants are under construction.
Almost half of the AD plants use food waste collected from multiple sources, such as supermarkets, hospitality providers and households, but 30% use agricultural feedstocks like slurry, manure or crop residues. The remainder are industrial plants using on-site waste such as brewery effluent and food processing residues.
“This is a significant milestone for the anaerobic digestion industry in the UK and highlights the broad range of companies turning to AD for waste management and to generate renewable heat and electricity,” said Lucy Hopwood, head of biomass and biogas at NNFCC.
Technological developments and better training had created more opportunities in the AD sector and it offered investors an “easy win” with good returns and low risk, she said.
Defra welcomed the figures and said the number of plants had doubled since its AD Strategy was published in June 2011. It was working with stakeholders to remove barriers to further uptake, a spokesperson said.
