Farming Monthly National April 2016 | Page 35

| Energy John Rennie & Sons combines AD with Wolf Power Systems CHP plant for more efficiency By Jacob de Mol, Sales International, Wolf Power Systems. new combined heat and power (CHP) plant will help John Rennie & Sons (Farmers) Ltd generate renewable electricity. Running off biogas from an existing anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, the expected output is 550kW, of which 500kW will be exported to the national grid. The rest is used to run the facility. A “We have managed to reduce our fertiliser bill by 90% and have gone carbon neutral” The CHP plant was built by Dreyer & Bosse, part of Wolf Power Systems, a pioneer in combining heat and power generation, at Gask Farm in Turriff, Aberdeenshire, an arable and pig farm run by John Rennie & Sons. Gask Farm has already been operating an AD plant for 10 years, using about 15,000 tons of www.farmingmonthly.co.uk feedstock, consisting mostly of food waste and abattoir material, with some of the farm’s own pig slurry used as well. The AD process produces 67% methane and 32% carbon dioxide. The methane has so far powered two 230kW engines and one 110kW CHP plant (also Dreyer & Bosse technology). The new CHP plant will be more efficient and have lower running costs. Having already worked with Dreyer & Bosse technology for over ten years, John Rennie & Sons liked the reliability of the company’s engine and didn’t consider anything else. Anaerobic digesti