FLI Energy begins construction of Euston biomethane to grid AD project

ADBA MEMBER NEWS

FLI Energy, one of the UK & Ireland’s leading AD plant EPC contractors, has announced today that it has begun construction of the Euston biogas plant, a biomethane to grid anaerobic digestion project located on the Euston Estate in Suffolk, UK. Once operating to full capacity, the AD plant will generate 10 million cubic meters of biogas, the electrical equivalent of powering over 5,000 UK homes.

Under the £9 million contract, FLI Energy will provide full EPC wrapped project delivery including the design, construction and commissioning of the plant, as well as a five year maintenance and process analysis support contract. FLI Energy signed the EPC contract on February 2014, from project developers Strutt and Parker Farms Ltd, one of the largest farming businesses in the UK, and SS Agripower.

Following on from several successful UK biogas projects, FLI Energy will again be collaborating closely with HoSt B.V. from Holland, who have been FLI Energy’s longstanding AD technology partner, to deliver the Euston project. HoSt B.V. are market leaders in the Netherlands and have extensive experience in mixed feedstock AD process design.

FLI Energy’s turnkey contract scope includes detailed civil and process design, ground-works, site secondary containment bunding, drainage, silage clamp, digestate storage, AD plant technology, CHP, biogas upgrading, propane addition, and biomethane network entry. The biogas upgrading technology will be supplied to FLI Energy by the Dutch company Pentair Haffmans.

The main energy export of the plant is renewable bio-methane. When commissioned, the project will generate 10 million cubic meters of biogas, which after upgrading on site will be exported to the gas grid as renewable bio-methane. As for the renewable electricity and heat generated, they will be largely consumed on site to power the plant itself.

Charlie Fillingham, Managing Director of Strutt and Parker Farms Ltd, said:

It is key to the success of such complex renewable energy projects to have early engagement with a specialist turnkey contractor such as FLI Energy who have the overall capability to join the project team early on to ensure an optimal and de-risked solution is implemented. We are confident that FLI will be able to draw on their significant anaerobic digestion project EPC experience to deliver an outstanding biogas plant.

FLI Energy’s Managing Director Declan McGrath commented:

We enjoyed the collaboration with Strutt and Parker Farms and their project team. Being engaged at the early stages by a prestigious and progressive client with a clear vision of renewable energy provides us with an ideal opportunity to add value early on in the project.

To date, the biogas plants delivered by FLI have a combined electrical output of 52,000 MWh each year – enough to power more than 6,500 homes, and potentially diverting nearly 100,000 tonnes of biodegradable waste from landfill.

FLI Energy’s Managing Director Declan McGrath concluded:

Our focus has recently been on the decarbonisation of the gas grid, and this year, the completion of the Euston project together with other projects underway will contribute more than 15 million cubic meters of gas to the grid; the electrical equivalent of powering over 8,000 homes.