Farming Monthly National June 2016 | Page 41

| Energy Edina biogas CHP helps vegetable grower to become energy self sufficient Gilfresh Produce based in Loughgall, Northern Ireland, has made energy and efficiency cost savings by installing a biogas CHP (combined heat and power) plant. he family run business grows field vegetables and salads on over 1,000 hectares of land and the company previously sent its vegetable waste to neighbouring farmers to be used for cattle feed. By using this waste as feedstock to power the site’s newly installed Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant, Gilfresh produce their own on-site electricity, generating enough to power its production process and export the surplus back to the grid at a profit. Gilfresh appointed Edina Group due to its flexibility and extensive service and maintenance coverage of 30 engineers across Ireland, with the contract to install a biogas CHP (combined heat and power) unit. Sole distributor for MWM manufactured gas engines in the UK and Ireland, Edina Group, supplied, installed and now maintains the biogas CHP MWM TCG 2016 V12 500kWe engine over a long term Service, Operation and Maintenance contract. With offices in Manchester and Dublin, the MWM engine was containerised at Edina’s manufacturing facility based in Lisburn, Northern Ireland less than 40 miles from the clients site and delivered ahead of schedule. Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is a natural process which takes organic matter and breaks it down, producing a gas which is turned into electricity. The biogas produced can be burnt in a boiler to produce heat, however, the T www.farmingmonthly.co.uk most efficient use of biogas is to utilise an engine to produce CHP. The biogas CHP plant was commissioned in November 2015 and it is expected that the power generated, through the biogas CHP, equates to approximately 80% of their energy usage, with the remainder sold to the grid as a revenue stream. Further plans are underway to recover the process heat generated for use in their office buildings and production processes increasing the energy efficiencies even further. Thomas Gilpin, founder of Gilfresh Produce, said “The biogas plant will enable us to pursue our growth course on the one hand, and our ecological goals on the other hand”. Edina’s Sales Manager, Colin McKibbin, concluded “Being a local company, we were delighted that Gilfresh Produce selected Edina as supplier of the CHP unit for their new Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant. The CHP is the most critical component of an AD project so it is important to select not only the right product, but also the best supplier with the required resource and after sales support. The client quickly identified that we offered a market leading product, with also having the largest service team in Ireland based at our service depot and manufacturing plant in Lisburn less than 40 miles from the Gilfresh site.” Edina is a recognised supplier, installer and maintenance provider for natural gas and biogas CHP (combined heat and power) plants across a number of industry sectors including food processing, agricultural, healthcare, education and the public and private sectors. Offering full turnkey contracts and customised container options manufactured in-house, Edina work closely with customers to meet their requirements from initial proposal to long term maintenance support. For more information, please visit www.edina.eu June 2016 | Farming Monthly | 41