UK GREEN Investment Bank (GIB) has announced a £7.5m commitment in the new £15m anaerobic digestion and green waste composting plant in Enfield which will generate power for 1,750 homes and produce compost for agricultural use.
The anaerobic digestion plant will be powered by 30,000 tonnes of food waste each year from the hotel, restaurant and retail trade which would have otherwise been sent to landfill.
The composting facility will also take garden waste from homes across London and turn it into compost. This along with the digested food from the anaerobic digestion process, will then be used as fertiliser by the farmers on whose land the new facility will sit, saving them an estimated £120,000 each year.
Shaun Kingsbury, chief executive, UK Green Investment Bank, said: “[The] announcement provides another demonstration of the attractiveness of anaerobic digestion infrastructure as an investment opportunity.
“The announcement of this new project follows the opening, last month, of London’s first commercial-scale anaerobic digestion and composting facility which is now producing renewable energy and generating returns for its investors.”
The investment is being made via GIB’s Foresight-managed fund, UK Waste Resources and Energy Investments (UKWREI).
Shaun Kingsbury continued to say: “I congratulate Foresight on securing the investment to construct this new facility, which will not only save thousands of tonnes of waste from landfill, but also generate a revenue stream from a resource that would have otherwise been thrown away.”
Business Secretary Vince Cable commented: “This new plant will mean less of our waste going to landfill, less reliance on fossil fuels for energy generation and provides compost for the farmers whose land it is built on.”
The facility will generate 7,400 MWh of renewable electricity each year and is anticipated to save approximately 21,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, the equivalent of taking 9,500 cars off the road.
The developer, D Williams & Co Limited, will begin construction of the plant at the beginning of June 2014 on their own land at Cattlegate Farm and it is expected to be operational by Spring 2016.
