Bedfordshire AD plant firm seeking new projects

A company with a waste to energy plant in Bedfordshire has continued its expansion.

BioGen, which had its anaerobic digestion plant in Bedfordshire opened by HRH the Princess Royal, gave a presentation on Guernsey, making reference to the Twinwoods plant in explaining the benefits of using waste to generate electricity.

The Bedfordshire plant uses 30,000 tonnes of leftovers and food waste and 12,000 tonnes of pig slurry to generate 1.2 megawatts of continuous energy – enough to supply 1,000 homes.

The anaerobic digestion plant at Twinwoods is the company’s first and helps areas combine their need for energy with a growing need for waste management and reducing the amount of landfill rubbish.

But not everybody is in favour of the technology, with some residents in Stanford in Kent concerned that a plant would increase heavy traffic, generate emissions and spit out waste particles over the village.

However, Andrew Needham of biogen said that the negatives were exaggerated.

He told the Independent: Most [ADs] are on farms or industrial parks and almost no one lives nearby.

"If an AD is constructed and operated properly, it has filters to remove odours and a casing to minimise noise. You could stand immediately outside and have a conversation."

The company is building a new plant in Northamptonshire.