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Local councils in London, Glasgow and Manchester are considering
rolling-out the UK's first biogas network, raising the prospect
of homes and offices being heated and powered by manure.
According to Peter Kindt, director at Alfagy
Ltd - a distributor of combined heat and power (CHP)
systems - a number of councils are in talks with the company
about emulating a flagship project in Germany that will create
the world's first urban biogas network.
The German city of Lünen is currently installing a large-scale
6.8MW anaerobic digestion plant, capable of turning organic
waste - such as crop cuttings and manure - into biogas. The
gas will then be distributed via a new pipeline network
to CHP units provided by engineering firm Schmitt
Enertec, which will provide heat and electricity to
local buildings.
The network is scheduled to come online this December and
is expected to provide enough energy for 26,000 homes, reaching
a sizable chunk of the city's 90,000 residents.
Alfagy, which is responsible for distributing Enertec's CHP
units in the UK and Scandinavia, said a number of London boroughs
and councils in Glasgow and Manchester were already in talks
with the company about installing a similar network in the
UK.
"The Lünen project shows that this technology can work in
a city" - he said. "The CHP units are very quiet, muffled
and camouflaged with plants, so they fit into the urban environment."
He added that it was too early to establish a timeline for
rolling-out the technology in the UK, but insisted that early
interest had been very encouraging.
Earlier this year, the UK government signalled its support
for the rollout of more than 1,000 anaerobic digestors across
the UK, while a recent report from the National Grid argued
that a £10bn nationwide biogas network - fuelled by farm waste
and sewage plants - could prove a more cost-effective means
of harnessing renewable energy than high-profile wind farm
projects.
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