Northern Irish anaerobic digestion plants secure £10.5m investment

The Foresight Group LLP managed Recycling and Waste LP Fund (RAW), in which UK Green Investment Bank plc (GIB) is a cornerstone investor, has committed £10.5 million (US$15.41 million) to two anaerobic digestion (AD) plants in Northern Ireland.

RAW has invested £8.7 million (US$12.8 million) in a 3 MW AD plant near Ballymena with co-investment of £4.4 million (US$6.5 million) from Foresight AD EIS Fund, £8.7m from Invest Northern Ireland and £1.5m from Xergi. Xergi has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and operations and maintenance (O&M) contracts for the project.

The Ballymena project is being developed by Stream BioEnergy Limited, an AD project developer in Ireland and Northern Ireland, and is fuelled solely by poultry litter.

RAW has also committed £1.8 million (US$2.6 million) to Gorthill AD in Eglington, Country Londonderry, with SQN Capital Management committing a further £1.8m to the 0.5 MW plant. Gorthill will use grass silage, poultry litter and cattle slurry as the feedstock. 

Williams Industrial Services will act as EPC and O&M contractor on the Gorthill project.

Together the two plants are expected to generate more than 20,000 MWh of renewable electricity per year, sufficient to power approximately 5,000 households. 

Economy Minister Simon Hamilton said: 

"This project has been developed as a result of support under the SUPL SBRI Project and the SUPL Loan Scheme. It is an outstanding example of public sector and private investors coming together to support a new technology for sustainable agriculture and to grow our economy.  In addition to helping the local poultry sector to grow,  the plant will create up to 100 jobs during the construction phase with a further 11 new jobs available when the plant becomes operational in 2017.”

Edward Northam, Head of Investment Banking, UK Green Investment Bank, said:

"We expect to see more rural communities exploring anaerobic digestion as a way of diverting organic waste from landfill while becoming more self-sufficient. These latest investments bring the number of on-farm AD plants supported by the GIB to six, five of which are located in Northern Ireland, demonstrating the growing demand in the sector. 

Plants of this scale save farming businesses money and can provide vital income through the sale of the electricity being generated.” 

Nigel Aitchison, Partner, Foresight Group, said:

"With the financial close of these two AD projects, the £50 million RAW fund is now 46% deployed.  At Foresight we are continuing to find attractive AD and other waste management projects both within Northern Ireland and in the UK generally which aim to make a lasting difference to the communities they serve while generating attractive returns for our investors.”