JLEN Acquires Sheffield AD Plant For £16m

Environmental infrastructure fund John Laing Environmental Assets Group (JLEN) has announced the acquisition of an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Sheffield for £16.2 million.

This will be JLEN’s sixth AD site, with the Meden Biogas Plant located at the Welbeck Anaerobic Digestion Facility in Mansfield, which is 25 miles south-east of Sheffield.

It has a thermal capacity of c 5MWth and mainly produces bio-methane for the national gas grid. This takes the total capacity of the renewable energy assets for JLEN to 279.2 MW.

Chairman of the organisation Richard Morse noted that the acquisition means the company has an AD portfolio worth more than £500 million.

He added: “[This] delivers on the company’s recent ambition to further diversity its portfolio into the bioenergy sector.”

The Sheffield plant, which will have its operations and maintenance services managed by Future Biogas Limited, boasts a 0.4 MWe CHP engine.

Mr Morse stated the latest acquisition not only adds another “high-quality asset” to its portfolio, but it is also pleased to “see our partnership with Future Biogas continue”.

It is also part of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and Feed-in-Tariff initiatives, giving it credibility in the green energy sector. So far, it has offset 10,417 tCO₂Oe since it was commissioned, and it could offset a further 67,703 tCO₂Oe during its operational lifetime.

This is the equivalent of powering 10,812 average UK homes with gas for heating and cooking over 20 years.

JLEN’s other AD assets include Egmere Energy in Norfolk, the Grange Farm Energy AD Plant in Lincolnshire, and Vulcan Renewables, south of Doncaster.

To find out more about the RHI and renewable energy in Cumbria, take a look here.