UTS Biogas Ltd. (“UTS”), a subsidiary of UTS Biogastechnik GmbH responsible within the UTS group for the British and Irish biogas market, has received its first major construction contract for an anaerobic digestion (“AD”) plant in the UK. The 700 kW biogas plant located in Glenfarg, Scotland will convert 16,000 tonnes per year of food waste into electrical energy and heat.
This is the first project realized jointly by the companies TEG Group PLC (“TEG”) and UTS in their partnership for the biogas market in the UK with special focus on organic waste treatment. This partnership had already resulted in a licensing agreement, granting TEG exclusive access to UTS technology for this specific market. TEG is a leading provider of in-vessel composting (“IVC”) plants having supplied and are operating numerous plants within the UK.
The combination of both IVC and AD for the treatment of organic wastes provides significant advantages for the plant operator due to increased flexibility in receiving mixed waste streams and higher efficiency in operation with parallel and combined processes. These advantages will be demonstrated at the site in Glenfarg, where TEG has operated its IVC plant since 2002, currently receiving 38,000 tonnes per year of co-mingled waste. The new biogas plant to be built alongside the existing IVC plant is expected to generate approximately 700 kW of electricity and 250 kW of available heat to other users. To guarantee an economic heat concept, TEG has agreed terms with the landlord, Binn Farm Limited to supply the heat to a new concept Binn Eco Park development. The plant was financed by Albion Ventures LLP, supported by capital funding from Zero Waste Scotland.
Mick Fishwick, Chief Executive from TEG explains: “The strategic partnership between TEG and UTS is proving very successful and this combined IVC/AD plant will become an excellent showcase for further organic waste projects. We expect this to be the first of many TEG-UTS AD plants constructed in the UK.”
Mr. Rob Heap, general manager of UTS Biogas Ltd., is equally delighted: “The Glenfarg biogas plant should become operational in the 1st quarter of 2011. TEG/UTS will then have a biogas reference treating 100% organic waste in the UK, demonstrating the robustness and flexibility of the UTS technology in this particular application. While important to the UK market, this project further increases the international exposure of UTS, where the treatment of organic wastes play a much more dominant role compared to energy crops.”