New biomass project set for Scotland

Renewable energy company Biogen, a 50/50 joint venture between Kier and Bedfordia, has signed a deal with the city of Edinburgh and Midlothian Councils to design and build a new food waste recycling plant.

The anaerobic digestion plant, to be based in Midlothian, will process 30,000 tonnes of waste per year made up of household food waste collected by the local authorities and food waste from commercial sources. This will generate around 1.4MW of renewable energy for the grid and also produce biofertiliser for farmland.

‘The construction of the AD plant will make a valuable contribution to the Scottish government’s aim to reduce the amount of waste, including food waste, sent to landfill by 2017,’ says Biogen CEO Richard Barker. ‘This project is another welcome addition to our pipeline across the UK as we already have live projects in Scotland, England and Wales.’

Work on site is planned to begin in February 2014 with the AD plant expected to produce electricity by autumn 2015.