Monday 21 August 2017

Biomass and waste-to-energy firm boosts portfolio

A biomass and waste-to-energy investor has bought a total of 20 new assets from the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB).

The deal makes Bioenergy Infrastructure Group's (BIG) portfolio one of the largest of its kind in the UK, with the four new biomass and waste-to-energy facilities, 15 anaerobic digestion plants and a materials recovery facility offering a combined capacity of more than 70MW.

The largest is the 20MW Mersey Bioenergy facility near Liverpool, which will burn waste wood, producing enough clean electricity to power the equivalent of 49,000 homes every year.

The firm currently manages 115MW of operational and late-stage construction assets, with a further 200MW in the pipeline - it hopes it will be diverting more than one million tonnes of waste from landfill and generating enough electricity for half a million homes in the next five years.

Hamish McPherson, CEO of BIG, said: "Over the long term, these facilities will be vital to lighting and heating homes, treating waste and supporting near-future innovations, such as driverless and electric cars."

Green campaigners have vowed to fight a proposed waste and biomass plant in Pembrokeshire.