CNG Services & NNFCC win WRAP funding for Biogas Networks Feasibility Study

Assessing the Feasibility of Biogas Networks in the UK

WRAP has awarded funding to a partnership between biomethane injection specialists CNG Services and bioeconomy consultants NNFCC and to assess the feasibility of developing biogas networks in the UK.

The funding was awarded as part of WRAP’s Driving Innovation in Anaerobic Digestion (DIAD) programme which helps to take technologies, concepts or modifications, which have the potential to advance the operation and outputs of anaerobic digestion at all scales, to actual market penetration.

Biogas networks offer small – scale anaerobic digestion (AD) developers the opportunity to combine their resources to cut the cost of injecting gas to the national grid. CNG Services and NNFCC will work in partnership to assess the feasibility of biogas networks in the UK, using a group of Cheshire farmers as a test case.

The partnership already has the backing of National Grid, Arla Foods Ltd. and the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF), as well as Honesty Food Ltd.; a consortium of dairy farmers in West Cheshire.

John Baldwin, Managing Director of CNG Services Ltd, said:

“The use of biogas networks and a central gas upgrading plant can provide a highly efficient way to reduce the carbon footprint of the dairy sector and we welcome interest in this concept.”

Lucy Hopwood, Head of Biomass and Biogas at NNFCC

“Many farmers are interested in anaerobic digestion but don’t want to go it alone, the idea of a hub of farms feeding the national grid with low carbon gas is therefore attractive. Developing biogas networks could be an important way of getting more farm ers involved in anaerobic digestion, which will benefit the rural economy and improve farm resource efficiency, such as nutrient and water management. It could also provide a major boost to the renewable heat market, helping to displace the use of fossil fuels.”