Agraferm signs contract for tenth UK AD plant

ADBA MEMBER PRESS RELEASE

Agraferm Technologies AG has signed the contract to build its tenth AD plant in Great Britain. The project, which is worth around €4m, is the construction of a biomethane plant in Holkham, Norfolk.

Agraferm Technologies AG, based in Pfaffenhofen in Bavaria, is one of the leading manufacturers of AD plants in the UK with a total output of around 70 million cubic meters of raw biogas per year from its plants, which is equivalent to an electricity output of around 20 MW annually.

This will be the tenth biogas or biomethane plant built by Agraferm in the UK, including the plant in Poundbury in Dorset, which is the first ever agriculture-based biomethane plant in Great Britain to feed into the national grid. Here the biogas produced in the plant is upgraded to natural gas quality and fed to Scotia Gas Networks, providing the model town of Poundbury, designed by Prince Charles, with electricity and gas.

Agraferm has already begun to develop their presence locally in order to continue to grow the business successfully in Britain. Such as the setting up of a technical and biological service team which serves all of the existing plants. For the chairman Eike Liekweg, this is the logical consequence of their strategic commitment to the British market.

Eike Liekweg, Chairman, Agraferm Technologies, said:

The tenth AD plant will be completed and commissioned next year. In the service of our customers it is important for us to be able to react quickly and complete projects promptly. Our successful expansion in the UK confirms our strategy and our technology.

Agraferm specialises in building biogas, biomethane and CHP plants thus covering all the various applications for AD plants.

Agraferm plants are characterised by their compact structure. The technology used allows for a wide variety of feedstock despite the space-saving compact design thus ensuring maximum use of space, maximum fermentation of the feedstock and maximum output.

One of the main aims of the energy policy in the UK is the use of biogas technology for the disposal of organic waste products. Agraferm in collaboration with their subsidiary BTA International GmbH is well equipped to deal with communal and industrial organic waste. BTA International GmbH was recently contracted by the British company Interserv to set up the Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre. The plant will handle 200,000 tons of household waste from the city of Glasgow annually.

From the point of view of industrial companies it is important that the government and the industry work together to devise an AD master plan, given the political goals to speed up the development of renewable energies and to find alternatives for the disposal of organic waste. Such a commitment would enable planning and continuity far beyond the elections in 2015. Only then can jobs be created in the industry, technology be further developed and investors’ trust be built up.