| FLI Energy / Tamar Energy |
Farleigh Wallop Anaerobic Digestion facility background:
Powersystems were appointed as Tamar Energy’s preferred partner. This was to deliver the grid connection to the new Basingstoke Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility. Working under FLI Energy who were the EPC for the project.
Powersystems connected Farleigh Wallop Anaerobic Digestion facility the first Tamar Energy Anaerobic Digestion project in Basingstoke to the Grid.
The grid connection was circa 3 km from a connection point, onto SSE 11kV network. Based on the outskirts of Clivesden village.
The route followed agricultural land, owned by Farleigh Estates to the new Anaerobic Digestion plant at Farleigh Wallop.
Due to the fast track nature of the connection it was agreed with SSE designers to fully duct the grid route. Therefor, this had significant time savings in respect of the excavation of trenches and laying of 11 kV cables. Joint bays were dug at 350m intervals along the grid route.
One challenge was the crossing of Farleigh Lane and the adjacent copse. This would have been impossible to dig through due to the number and proximity of trees, and due to the narrowness of the road. This could have resulted in a full road closure, which would have had significant impact on residents in the area. Potentially resulting in a detour via Basingstoke.
Working with our civil contractor, it was decided to employ the services of a specialist directional drilling contractor. Who utilises trenchless drilling technology to core-drill and allow a sleeve duct to be pulled back through. Once this was done it was a very simple task of installing the cable section through this 75 m duct and jointing to the grid route cables.
At the substation Powersystems carried out the connection design works. This was to include the substation buildings, 11 kV switchgear and metering unit with NVD protection.
In Conclusion:
The works were inspected and signed off by SSE projects engineer and final connection was made on schedule and within budget.
G59/2 testing and commissioning was carried out in early December. The facility is now generating green energy from food waste to the National Grid.
About Tamar Energy
Tamar Energy is a renewable energy company, whose aim is to build a network of around 40 anaerobic digestion plants in strategic locations around the UK by 2018. These facilities will generate 100 MW of electricity – enough to power more than 200,000 homes.
Officially launched in 2012, Tamar Energy has an exclusive focus on using anaerobic digestion to transform organic waste into renewable energy. The process has the potential to power millions of UK homes, whilst also offering a sustainable, cost-effective organic waste treatment solution. Renewable energy is produced from three main sources of feedstock – organic waste from the food processing industry, agricultural sources and ‘post-consumer’ organic waste, broken down into municipal, household waste and waste from industrial and commercial sources including hotels, supermarkets, prisons, schools and hospitals.
Three anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities from Tamar Energy with a combined capacity of 6 MW have completed construction and are entering the commissioning phase at locations across the UK. Construction has progressed as planned and the three plants have received the “seeding” feedstock which signals that the final steps are underway in the commissioning process. The first wave of Tamar Energy’s network of AD plants is fully operational and accepting food, farm and other organic feedstock. Commissioning is typically a three month process that includes all safety checks and brings the plant up to fully operational levels.
Two of the sites are now supplying electricity to the National Grid. As well as the three plants now in commissioning and the Halstead anaerobic digestion facility in construction, Tamar Energy has a number of other sites in the advance stages of development, including sites in Bromley, Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, Ramsbottom near Bury, and Evercreech in Somerset.
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