Germany's WELtec BioPower GmbH will complete a one MW biogas plant with integrated unpacking and separation system and shredder for the British company Fernbrook Bio before the end of 2010.

The plant, which belongs to the Rothwell Lodge Farm in the East Midlands, will convert 30,000 tonnes of biowaste and manure of the farm's cattle herd into electricity. Additionally, the substrate of close-by farms (pig manure, flotate fat) will be fed into the two fermenters of 106,000 cu ft each in order to supply about 2,000 homes with power and heat. Two tanks of 120,000 cu ft each serve as digestate storage units. A hygienisation unit heats the digestate to 70°C in order to make it fit for use as fertiliser.

In Europe, Great Britain boasts the second-largest biogas potential after Germany. If the available sources were used consistently, more than two million homes could be supplied with green energy from British fermenters via AD (anaerobic digestion). Slowly but surely, anaerobic digestion is gaining popularity in the UK - mainly because of government measures such as the biomass strategy and the waste strategy but also because of the good reputation of the energy plant technology ''made in Germany.''

Thanks to the experience gained in more than 200 biogas plant projects, WELtec BioPower GmbH from Vechta in Lower Saxony signed its first contracts in the UK back in 2005. In England, Scotland, and Wales, the plant population under the WELtec label now totals 1.5 MW, plus another three MW that are currently under construction or planning.