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Which Came First, the Chicken or the Power Plant?
It may be surprising to know that chicken waste is reused as a source of fuel to generate electricity, with over 75% of chicken litter from major poultry farms in the United Kingdom being reused in this method.
Northern Ireland often exports its chicken litter to mainland Britain as a way to efficiently reduce waste and reuse the energy stored in the bedding as no facility exisits in the country. The 1.8m chickens produced each week, create 250 000t of chicken litter annually. Hence this weeks decision by major chicken producers O'Kane Poultry, Glenfarm Holdings and Moy Park, who have been supplying poultry bedding for use as a biofuel to power stations in England and Scotland for a number of years, to join together as a consortium, known as Rose Energy, to propose the first energy plant which will convert agricultural biomass into electricity in Northern Ireland.
As well as poultry litter, meat an bone meal, commonly known as MBM will also be used as a fuel source. Both of which are inert, non-toxic substances.
The proposed site in Glenavy, near Lisburn, is in an ideal location between the two major poultry processing areas in NI. It is also located next to Ulster Farm By-Products, which will be a major supplier to the plant of one of the fuel sources – meat and bone meal. Furthermore, the plant will serve to reinforce the electricity infrastructure in an area which is currently deficient.
The £100m power plant will have a capacity of 30MW, and could effectively power 25 000 homes, assisting up to a third of the Northern Ireland obligation to source 6.3% of its energy from renewable sources by 2012. The government intends to exceed this figure and achieve 12% and is providing a funding package for suitable green energy initiatives to help develop viable projects.
This development is a viable solution to address the disposal of agricultural biomass, which is now included under an EU directive, whilst also providing an additional source of renewable energy. It will also assist in reducing emissions produced from exporting chicken litter, via road and sea,to mainland Britain.
NB: Generic Picture
Northern Ireland often exports its chicken litter to mainland Britain as a way to efficiently reduce waste and reuse the energy stored in the bedding as no facility exisits in the country. The 1.8m chickens produced each week, create 250 000t of chicken litter annually. Hence this weeks decision by major chicken producers O'Kane Poultry, Glenfarm Holdings and Moy Park, who have been supplying poultry bedding for use as a biofuel to power stations in England and Scotland for a number of years, to join together as a consortium, known as Rose Energy, to propose the first energy plant which will convert agricultural biomass into electricity in Northern Ireland.
As well as poultry litter, meat an bone meal, commonly known as MBM will also be used as a fuel source. Both of which are inert, non-toxic substances.
The proposed site in Glenavy, near Lisburn, is in an ideal location between the two major poultry processing areas in NI. It is also located next to Ulster Farm By-Products, which will be a major supplier to the plant of one of the fuel sources – meat and bone meal. Furthermore, the plant will serve to reinforce the electricity infrastructure in an area which is currently deficient.
The £100m power plant will have a capacity of 30MW, and could effectively power 25 000 homes, assisting up to a third of the Northern Ireland obligation to source 6.3% of its energy from renewable sources by 2012. The government intends to exceed this figure and achieve 12% and is providing a funding package for suitable green energy initiatives to help develop viable projects.
This development is a viable solution to address the disposal of agricultural biomass, which is now included under an EU directive, whilst also providing an additional source of renewable energy. It will also assist in reducing emissions produced from exporting chicken litter, via road and sea,to mainland Britain.
"This is an exciting project for Northern Ireland, using proven technology to deliver huge benefits to the province on two key fronts - improving the environment and generating renewable energy. The plant will provide an opportunity to use two valuable biomass fuel sources locally, which have for several years been used as fuel for similar plants in GB. Rose Energy represents a huge financial commitment, the majority of which is being privately funded. The relevant government departments are aware of our proposals and have indicated their support in principle. We are working closely with them to secure the remaining funding required to realise this project."Depending on the success of their planning application, the new facility should be operational by 2010.
Mike Alcorn, Director, Rose Energy
NB: Generic Picture
3 comments:
This proposed incinerator is neither energy saving nor green. With a thermal efficiency of 30% it's well below average for this type of installation.
As for the fumes and toxic waste it generates, they have undisputed links to many deadly diseases, the most common of which is cancer.
There are human and environmentally friendly ways of dealing with the chicken litter problem and none of them include polluting our air and land, storing disease and death for our future generations in order to line the pockets of businesses like Moy Park and O'Kane.
Further research is at http://www.glenavy.com
Disgusted, Glenavy.
The greater good of Northern Ireland may be served by an incinerator that happens to produce some electricity with very low efficiency. However, the chosen location has more to do with a bid to save an ailing group of companies than green economics. Aside from the fact that the proposed location is in a designated area of "High Scenic Value", it is a long way from the main road network and can only be accessed via B class roads that cannot cope with the current size of HGV's accessing the Glenavy plant and mineral workings.
Every time a novel or progressive idea is mooted in Northern Ireland, you can guarantee an army of naysayers will appear, demonising the very thought of change. If we already benefit from exporting the fuel this power plant would use to other plants(de facto endorsing their operation), how can we now suddenly be against such a plant at home?? Regarding the infrastructure, the A26 already links Glenavy to the M1 and M2-if needed the construction of a "crawler lane" is not a huge operation so I don't understand what michael is saying.
Regarding "High Scenic Value", the east foreshore of Lough Neagh has the least attractions and there is already a massive water sanitation plant a few miles up this shore between the airport and Antrim. I havent heard so many complaints about smells from it.
http://www.discoverloughneagh.com/Places-To-Visit.T87.aspx
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