Fife Council to generate high efficiency renewable heat and power from anaerobic digestion

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Fife Council has appointed ENER-G to supply a high efficiency combined heat and power (CHP) system for its new anaerobic digestion facility at Lochhead landfill site in Dunfermline.

The ENER-G biogas generation system will use an MTU engine, which at 42% electrical output, is one of the highest efficiency engines in the market. The MTU is powering numerous anaerobic digestion plants in Germany.

The Fife anaerobic digestion plant, which will begin power generation later this year, will convert methane produced from up to 40,000 tonnes of local food and garden waste into up to 1.4 MW of renewable electricity and heat. The renewable heat will supply the Council’s existing district heating system and has the potential to meet all of the heating needs of the local Queen Margaret Hospital.

The biogas generation system will be financed, developed, installed and operated by ENER-G at no upfront cost to the Council. The Council will recover Feed in Tariff (FiT) payments on the export of electricity to the local network over the 25 year contract period.

The anaerobic digestion facility will achieve carbon dioxide savings in excess of 7,200 tonnes per year, equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 5,902 acres forest or removing 2400 cars from the road each year. It will also produce an organic fertiliser, providing up to 10,000 tonnes of compost per year for use by local farms.

ENER-G developed and operates the Council’s landfill gas generation facility at Lochhead, which has been operational for more than five years. This 2 MW ENER-G landfill gas management produces enough clean electricity for over 2000 houses and affordable, renewable heat for 230 flats and seven public buildings – via the pioneering district heating network.

The landfill gas plant stops equivalent of 9,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide passing into the environment each year.

Scott Tamplin, Director of anaerobic digestion for ENER-G, said:

The anaerobic digestion project will use a MTU engine, which is highly efficient at 42%, and can provide excellent electricity yields and renewable heat output. We are proud to partner once again with such a forward looking council as Fife and to contribute to their sustainable waste strategy.

Chris Ewing, environmental sustainability manager for Fife Council, said:

We believe that turning food and garden waste at Lochhead into power and heat could save the council around £1.2 million each year. It will also contribute to our improving recycling rates, which were 55.5% in 2012 for household and commercial waste.