Weltec extends contract for AD plant in Dorset

WELTEC Biopower (UK) Ltd, based in Warwickshire, has received a contract to extend the award-winning food waste AD plant in Piddlehinton, Dorset. Plant owners Eco Sustainable Solutions Ltd are expanding 1.1MW of food waste processing capacity. Earlier, Weltec commissioned two other plants.

Weltec built the original Eco-Dorset AD plant and was commissioned in 2012.  With the new contract, the company completes the extension in autumn 2014. The plant is fed by local authority food waste as well as out of date food products which prior to digestion are unpackaged, sorted and pasteurised at the site. After the extension, approximately 37,000 tpa of food waste will generate an electrical output of 1.6 MW.
The Eco-Dorset approach presents the benefits of an intelligent design, co-location and mutually beneficial plant integration. Electricity generated at the plant as well as excess gas is fed to an adjacent feed mill. When the mill is not operational, the power is fed to the National Grid. The digestate produced by the plant, which is in the process of gaining PAS 110 accreditation, is collected and used by local farmers.

Furthermore, the digesters and digestate storage tanks are constructed from stainless steel, making them corrosion-resistant to aggressive materials and offers a faster construction time, which is increasingly important to all developers with the FIT framework deadlines providing tight construction windows.