Energy facilities set for green light

Plans to develop new anaerobic digestion and standby gas energy facilities at a site in East Yorkshire look set to get the green light from councillors later this week (24 January 2019).The developments would form part of the proposed Melton Energy Park.Melton Energy Tech, supported by The Energy Workshop, submitted an application to East Riding of Yorkshire Council in October 2018 for a dry anaerobic digestion facility in Melton, within the existing Gibson Lane waste transfer site.The plant would comprise a number of small buildings a structures, including twin digester units, biogas storage dome, and a reception hall and office building. It could generate enough gas to meet the requirements of more than 2,500 average UK homes.The biogas produced would be exported directly into the national gas network, as well as occasionally being used to fuel a proposed standby generation unit to the north.The application will go before East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s planning committee on 24 January and is recommended for approval, subject to conditions.Melton Energy Tech already operates a 4.6 megawatt (MW) wind farm adjacent to the application site. It has also secured planning permission for a 20MW energy from waste plant as part of Melton Energy Park.The planning committee will also vote on plans for a standby gas generation facility, also forming part of Melton Energy Park.This would comprise 20 one-megawatt generator units, together with an ancillary substation and storage unit.The facility would provide rapid-response electrical back-up to the local grid, and would also have the potential to serve the National Grid. It would be run on gas from either the existing gas mains network or the proposed anaerobic digestion plant.The application is recommended for deferral until a positive response is received from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), at which point conditional approval would be granted.The recommendations have been made despite more than 300 objections to the anaerobic digestion plant and more than 500 to the standby gas facility.