Granville Ecopark (pictured), an award-winning enhanced anaerobic digestion (AD) facility based in Northern Ireland, has become the first AD plant in the UK to achieve certification under the recently launched AD Certification Scheme (ADCS).
The scheme is an industry-led initiative that recognises good operational, environmental, and health and safety performance at AD plants and was launched following a successful pilot earlier in the year involving three different AD plants.
The ADCS has been developed in collaboration with a range of industry stakeholders including regulators, insurers, investors, and operators and is managed by ADBA, the UK’s trade body for AD.
Granville Ecopark is the largest AD facility in Ireland taking only food waste as a resource and has capacity to export 4.8 MWe of renewable electricity onto Northern Ireland’s local grid.
“To have the first plant certified under the ADCS just six weeks after the scheme was launched is hugely encouraging and shows the support within the AD industry for raising its performance across the board and recognising good practice in running plants.”
Recent expansion now allows the plant to clean up excess biogas into biomethane, which is being transported all over Northern Ireland to power CHP engines and create renewable heat and electricity for its customers.
Charlotte Morton, Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Assocaition (ADBA) chief executive, said: “To have the first plant certified under the ADCS just six weeks after the scheme was launched is hugely encouraging and shows the support within the AD industry for raising its performance across the board and recognising good practice in running plants.
“ADBA will continue to speak to AD operators about the many benefits of the ADCS both for operators themselves and for the wider industry, including increased support from politicians, regulators, insurers, and investors.”
In September 2017 Granville Ecopark also became the first AD plant to obtain a Prosperity Agreement with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency whereby the two parties have pledged to work together to develop innovative solutions to maximise energy production and work with the community to deliver environmental initiatives.