Plans for £7m biogas plant in Christchurch going on show (From Bournemouth Echo)

Plans for £7m biogas plant in Christchurch going on show

9:36am Tuesday 4th September 2012 in News By Katie Clark

PLANS to build one of the UK’s largest renewable energy parks in Christchurch will go on show.

Eco Sustainable Solutions, based at Parley say the revolutionary scheme will cost a minimum of £36million and create up to ten new jobs.

The company has already received planning permission for a £14million biomass generating station on its existing composting site at Parley.

Work on building the plant, which will be fuelled by 25,000 tonnes of waste wood, is due to start early next year and is expected to be operational in mid 2014.

It will provide approximately 23,600 megawatts of electricity each year.

Eco is also proposing to build a £7million biogas plant that will convert 45,000 tonnes of food waste and locally sourced maize into gas.

The anaerobic digester facility will produce about 4.4million cubic metres of gas annually which the company estimates will provide 3,000 homes worth of energy.

A planning application has been submitted and, if approved, work could start next year.

The final part of the renewable energy park is a solar energy farm covering up to 125 acres of land.

The cost of the solar farm will range from £15 million to as much as £100 million depending on the final size of the scheme.

A planning application has yet to be prepared.

Details of the biomass, AD and solar farm schemes will go on show at a public open day at Eco’s Chapel Lane on Saturday, September 15 from 9am to 2pm.

Trelawney Dampney, Eco’s managing director, said: “We believe our renewable energy park will be one of the largest in the UK providing low carbon, clean and green energy from material such as food waste which would normally have gone to landfill.

"We are very keen to share our plans with residents and other interested parties as well as highlight some of our current activities.”