Farm waste has potential to power homes

An electrical company’s expertise has seen it play a pivotal part in a renewable energy project that will turn farm and food waste into electricity that has the potential to power a thousand homes.

Anaerobic Digestion is a natural process which converts organic matter, such as food waste, animal slurry, and crop residues, into renewable energy. The waste is stored in sealed tanks without any oxygen, where naturally-occurring organisms digest it and release methane-rich biogas, which is used to generate electricity, gas, or heat. The leftover waste material can also be used as a fertilizer packed with nitrates and phosphates.

The Swancote Farm project, which has a capacity of 1MW – which will help maximise biogas production by up to 20% compared to other systems and two residue storage tanks.

"The system accepts both agricultural waste, such as slurry and maize grown on the farm land, and organic inputs, like food waste from local processing plants to generate electricity," Peter Whitehouse, Managing Director of Cosgriff Whitehouse Electrical, explained.

"Government schemes such as the Feed-In Tariff and the Renewable Heat Incentive are making Anaerobic Digestion plants such as Swancote a viable opportunity for farmers to diversify their operations and gain additional income. As well as the hard-headed economic benefits available, there are, of course, major environmental advantages too, as it helps cut waste and provide a greener source of energy."

Andrew Black, of MT Energie, commented: "We couldn’t have been more highly impressed by the service we received from CWE on the electrical cabling work for the Swancote Energy project. The team’s expertise, reliability, and technical competence were second-to-none and we very much look forward to working with them on similar projects in the future."