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The Icknield Farm AD plant provides the following benefits to the local community:

 

  • A sustainable supply of renewable gas.  The AD plant produces approximately 5.6 million cubic metres of biomethane every year, with an energy value of over 60 million kilowatt hours (thermal), which is roughly equivalent to the average consumption of approximately 5,300 households, or more than the entire populations of the villages of Goring, Streatley, Woodcote and South Stoke combined!  To put this in perspective, the annual output from the AD plant, which occupies an area of less than two hectares, would be equivalent in renewable energy terms to that of a solar farm occupying a site of approximately 30 hectares.

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  • Employment.  The plant gives employment to two people who are responsible for its regular feeding and maintenance.

 

  • A sustainable future for the local arable farms.  Margins in farming are historically slim.  The AD plant adds diversity to the farm revenues, and increases profitability, ensuring that these businesses have a strong future. 

 

  • A substantial contribution to the Government's commitment to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The Government has legally binding targets for renewable energy generation and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.  Methane is one of the single largest sources of greenhouse gas, and the AD process captures all of it.

 

  • A reduction in the use of chemical fertilisers in the vicinity.  The digestate that is left after methane extraction is high in plant nutrients and replaces a considerable amount of factory-produced nitrogen fertiliser.  This is manufactured by using gas, resulting in a double saving of CO2 production.  Other nutrients contained in the digestate include Potash, Phosphorous and Sulphur, all of which are mined in various parts of the world and are essential to plant growth.

 

  • An increase in yield to the arable land in the vicinity.  The highly nutritious organic digestate is used as fertiliser in both solid and liquid form, and spread onto several thousand acres of arable land around the AD plant site, which enhances soil microbial diversity whilst maintaining yields sustainably.

 

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