Granville Ecopark CHP plant

Edina CHP powers Ireland’s leading AD Plant Granville Ecopark

Based in Dungannon, Northern Ireland, Granville Ecopark is the largest Enhanced Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility in Ireland taking only food waste as a resource and has capacity to export 4.8MWe of renewable electricity onto Northern Ireland’s local grid.

Its sister company, Granville Energy Supply (GES), is a Transportable Renewable Energy company and is the market leader in Northern Ireland and Ireland in the production, transportation and selling of biomethane. GES’s customers’ receive biomethane to power and heat plant and return their food waste or waste by-product to aid the AD process, making a clean loop of recovery and regeneration.

GES’s technology removes the impurities and separates CO2 from the excess biogas produced from the AD plant to create a biomethane fuel. The biomethane Quality Protocol provides the criteria for biomethane to be used or injected to the gas grid or for use in a natural gas appliance, of which, GES’s supply of biomethane is compliant with this standard.

In order for the company to grow, GES contracted Edina to supply and install 8 reciprocating gas engines ranging from 204kWe to 1,200kWe, and totalling a 5.78MWe power output as part of the onsite combined heat and power (CHP) requirement. Edina were selected based on reputation, capability and experience in delivering successful CHP projects across Ireland and the UK.

Edina were able to realise Granville’s strategic requirement via a full turnkey solution, which included the design, engineering, project management and commissioning of the generating equipment.

Edina is the official distributor for MWM manufactured gas engines in Ireland and the UK. MWM technology provides maximum efficiency, reliability, flexibility and environmental sustainability, together with low lifecycle costs and high profitability.

All eight gensets supplied by Edina were containerised at Edina’s manufacturing facility in Lisburn, Northern Ireland and delivered to site. The modular approach allowed for an expedited installation, whilst providing low maintenance cost to ensure maximum high plant availability.

Waste To Energy

The expansion at sites now allows the plant to clean up excess biogas into biomethane, which is being transported all over Northern Ireland to power CHP engines and create renewable heat and electricity for its customers.

Granville EcoPark has the capacity to produce over 26 million m^3 of biogas every year, with half being converted to biomethane for use off site with GES.

Future plans have identified biomethane as a transport fuel, achieving significant environmental and cost savings in HGV’s, buses and other vehicles, compared to diesel vehicle. A small portion of the gas is used to fuel the company Maintenance vehicles; this is seen as the key growth sector for this renewable fuel in the coming years, as the Government moves away from diesel. GES is currently the only producer of the biomethane fuel so is in prime position for leading the way for Northern Ireland’s renewable vehicle fuel sector.

The remote generation has the ability to provide at source generation to current customers, by supplying them off grid renewable heat and power, majorly reducing their carbon footprint but also reducing reliance on national grid and fossil fuels. Now that renewable energy is mobile via Granville Energy Supply, there are no longer restrictions in terms of uses for the energy. There are currently 17 CHP engines across Northern Ireland using the biomethane supplied by GES.

Recognised Within Industry

On 26th September 2017, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and GES sister company, Granville Ecopark Ltd, signed a Prosperity Agreement pledging to work together to divert more food waste from landfill and use it to generate renewable energy and an organic fertiliser. Granville EcoPark are the first and only AD plant to receive this high recognition.

The agreement contains six commitments, including innovative solutions to maximising energy production from the process. It also explores opportunities for collecting more food waste from other sources and working with stakeholders and the community to deliver environmental initiatives, for example, around biodiversity and waste education.

Area’s specific to biogas are:

Provision of 8,000 tonnes of bio-methane to offsite power generation, off-setting 31,000 tonnes of CO₂ compared with coal powered energy production
Sister company, Granville Ecopark will seek further opportunities for further power generation
The Company will look to provide more customers in Ireland’s industry and commerce, and waste sectors with onsite sustainable renewable electricity and heat, hence growing this renewable energy generation market and providing longevity and security against rising fossil fuel prices for its customers.

In January 2018, Granville EcoPark became the first AD plant in the UK to achieve certification under the new Anaerobic Digestion Certification Scheme (ADCS), an industry-led initiative that recognises good operational, environmental, and health and safety performance at AD plants.

During the UK AD & World Biogas Awards 2018, Granville Ecopark’s Shane Doherty was named the ‘UK AD Plant Manager of the Year’, and the CHP project was highly commended within the ‘Making the Most of Biogas’ category award.

The CHP project is also shortlisted for the Association of Decentralised Energy (ADE) industry awards, within the Industrial project category, and winners will be revealed during the annual awards ceremony on 24th October 2018 at the City of London, Guildhall.

Client:
Granville Ecopark

Location:
Dungannon, Northern Ireland

Capacity:
5.78MWe

Operational:
2014 and 2017

Manufacturer:
MWM

Packager:
Edina

Engine Type:
2 x 1,200kWe TCG 2020 V12, 1 x 1,560kWe TCG 2020 V16, 2 x 500kWe TCG 2016 V12, 1 x 331kWe UPB 9508TC, 1 x 280kWe UPB 9408TC, 1 x 204kWe UPB 946TC

Primary Fuel:
Biogas