AD plant to power Aberdeen’s new TECA complex
Aberdeen City Council has appointed a contractor to build an anaerobic digestion (AD) gas to grid plant at the site of the city’s new, multimillion pound TECA arena, conference centre and exhibition building.
The plant will use Aberdeen’s food waste as well as fuel crops and agricultural wastes as feedstocks. This will be used to produce biogas, which will upgraded to biomethane before being injected into the natural gas grid and piped to TECA’s onsite energy centre, according to a statement from the council.
Austrian-based Thöni Industriebetriebe has been chosen to build the new AD facility.
“The AD plant project powering the TECA complex underpins the position of Aberdeen as a world-class city for energy and innovation and the centre as the place to see how energy, environment and business can be integrated on a truly significant scale,” said City Council Co-Leader Councillor Jenny Laing.
“The quality and scale of TECA is designed to attract global events and acts, supporting our ambitions to grow the number of visitors we attract from local, regional, national and international markets, and we’re delighted that the renewable energy from the AD plant will be part of that.”
The gas to grid AD plant has received a subsidy from the UK Government, guaranteed for 20 years, under the Renewable Heat Incentive.
It will have capacity to process 81,000 tonnes of feedstock per year, with 41,300 tonnes of that being waste materials (OFGEM require 50% of feedstocks to be waste or residuals). It is designed to produce 425m3/h of gas for injection into the grid with 200m3/h for 8,000 hours a year to go to the energy centre.
