AD plant begins construction in Norwich

With only a handful of anaerobic digestion (AD) plants in operation throughout the UK, energy company Future Biogas is set to add to these numbers with plans to build an AD plant on the outskirts of Norwich county.

The biogas plant will produce electricity from maize grown on approximately 1,000 acres of land and a local farmer who will grow the maize for the plant has already been secured.

Planning permission was granted in November last year by Broadland District Council and construction is due to begin in July this year. Operations are expected to commence in the Q1 of 2011, at which point enough power will be generated to supply more than 3,000 homes with electricity.

Located in London, Downing’s Venture Capital Trusts has invested £3.8 million (€4.6 million) in the project, allowing Future Biogas to get the plant constructed.

Michael Hughes, investment manager at Downing, said: ‘We have been able to provide capital to Future Biogas as traditional forms of bank funding continue to remain unavailable to small scale operators of low carbon technology.’