- Sustainable ‘green’ gas made from local crops set to heat up to 1,000 homes
- Project set to benefit local farmers
A brand new ‘green gas’ facility in Euston, Suffolk, has started delivering gas into National Grid’s pipeline network and is set to fuel 1,000 local homes with sustainable energy while at the same time offering benefits for local farmers.
Gas made from home-grown maize is being pumped into National Grid’s local gas network with the opening of Euston Biogas Ltd’s brand new facility at the Euston Estate, close to the Suffolk/Norfolk border, near Thetford.
Built and operated by renewable energy company Euston Biogas Ltd, the plant uses a process known as anaerobic digestion to turn locally-grown crops into sustainable gas. The facility can deliver up to 1,000 cubic metres per hour and fuel some 1,000 homes on average through National Grid’s gas network.
The state-of-the-art facility marks the very first ‘gas to grid’ project for Euston Biogas Ltd. Crops and agricultural bi-products for the plant will be provided by Strutt and Parker (Farms) Limited – Euston Biogas’ parent company – and by other local farmers.
For National Grid it is in the vanguard of at least 80 projects around the country that the company is aiming to connect to its network by 2020. It also represents the third biogas plant the company has connected in Suffolk.
Charlie Fillingham, Managing Director of Strutt and Parker (Farms) Limited, said: “We are delighted to have worked with National Grid in this venture. Whilst not only producing a significant quantity of renewable energy, the project will provide a great opportunity for farmers in the area to improve their crop rotation by introducing maize and other energy crops. Furthermore, a co-product – known as digestate – which is produced during the process will also be used as a natural fertilizer and improve the much-needed nutrient levels in the light soils of this region.”
Richard Court, head of stakeholder delivery at National Grid, said: “This is great news for local people. Biogas, made from crops and agricultural bi-products can make a significant contribution to keeping our energy supplies secure, affordable and green. I’m particularly proud of this project. We’ve enabled our customers to have a greater choice and say about how they develop sustainable energy. Developers are rapidly expanding the bio-methane-to-gas-grid market and we are committed to playing our part fully in helping them bring their projects to fruition and flow gas into the network.”
The project brings benefits to the local farming community and provides a market for farmers to use their ‘break crops’ – crops planted by farmers in between other crops to keep the land healthy and fertile.
Notes to editors - archive
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