Bio gas plant

[oldoaktree]

In my local area there’s a farm which has a biogas plant .
Some of the locals told me that they’d been offered gas from it . I wasn’t sure how this was going to happen.
So move on a few weeks and the local pub have a letter up most of the locals have got . I states that the farm will be supplying gas via a new pipe line which has just started being moled in the road it’s all in about 4.5 miles estimated time to get it all done is 6 months . The cost to have the gas supply to each home is quoted at £5500 (can’t remember if it’s plus vat) for each household. The price will come down if more sign up for the scheme .
Has anyone heard of anything like this before?
Is it the same gas that normal house hold appliances use.
What happens if they can’t produce enough gas ?
What would happen if they went t!ts up !
Sold up
Would they get green energy grants to help with the new pipe?
There’s quite a few questions about this venture.
I’m not sure if it’s going to be linked in to the main gas pipeline which serves the country.

 

[Formatted]

It'll be going straight into the grid, sounds like they are trying to get the locals to pay for their connection to the grid.

 

[New Puritan]

Does the pub (and other neighbours) have an existing connection to the gas grid? If not it sounds like they are setting up their own small independent gas grid.

Some AD plants put the gas directly in the gas grid, others put it through a gas engine to make electricity and put that in the electricity grid. It usually depends on which connections are available when they build the plant. Some even bottle it up and move it by tanker, but that's much rarer.

The gas an AD plant produces is methane, in order to be put in the gas grid it will need to meet the correct spec for grid gas, so there wouldn't be any problems running household appliances on it. They usually have to add some propane to boost the calorific value, and some stench agent.

However if they are setting up a private grid I don't know what requirements they'll have on things like pressure, calorific value, continuity of service etc. You need to investigate what it is they are offering.

If you look on this map: http://adbioresources.org/map - you should be able to find the plant and see if it's currently set up to produce gas directly, or whether it's currently being used to generate electricity.

 

[oldoaktree]

There is no gas in our valley. The pipe is going to where the locals say the mains gas stops . Which is where they have started.
The farm with the bio plant will have an electricity grid connection near by as they have wind turbines on the farm, they used and probably still are ones that you get ground rent from not owned by the farm.

 

[Lincs Lass]

If the gas they are producing is the same chemistry as AD plants do ,then be carefull,,when our local plant started producing to go into the main ,all the seals in the pipes in my village started to decay,they spent weeks sorting it out ,it was something to do with the methane mixing with the natural gas

 

[New Puritan]

@Lincs Lass - Methane and natural gas are the same stuff. It sounds like they hadn't scrubbed it properly - i.e. removed some of the contaminants like sulphur compounds etc.

@oldoaktree - if they plan to connect their plant to the national grid then there shouldn't be as much to worry about, as if their plant goes offline the pressure from the grid will replace their gas with other gas from elsewhere; and all the gas going in will need to meet the correct specifications. It does sound like what @Formatted says above though, that the AD plant is getting their customers to pay for the grid connection.

 

[thesilentone]

In Germany there are rural areas that had no gas grind, so several smaller plants combined to make a grid for the nearby village.

A great idea that should be encouraged. The income to build the infrastructure will come from selling gas at a higher price than wholesale to consumers.

As is quite correctly stated above, normally the methane entering the gas grid is exactly the same as what is already in there, this is achieved by removing the CO2, improving the calorific value by adding propane and an odorant so you can smell it.

In many cases adding propane is not required due to volumes, and on private supply pipe I am unsure what the requirements/rules may be.

However, many rural areas do not have gas, and a Biogas Plant is one way to change things for the better.

 

[Exfarmer]

Before the coming of North sea gas , most of Britain relied on local gas networks. Some were very small and sadly had been abandoned before coming of natural gas.
I would think any operator will be looking to connect in to the national network will have to be producing a product which is compatible to most current appliances.
However it is not a major problem changing the jets in any neew appliance if it was necessary

 

[ollie989898]

Fudge the gas, bury pipes and send steam to the houses- free heating all year round!

 

[Exfarmer]

By the way, if VAT is to be added it would be 5%

 

[oldoaktree]

@Lincs Lass - Methane and natural gas are the same stuff. It sounds like they hadn't scrubbed it properly - i.e. removed some of the contaminants like sulphur compounds etc.

@oldoaktree - if they plan to connect their plant to the national grid then there shouldn't be as much to worry about, as if their plant goes offline the pressure from the grid will replace their gas with other gas from elsewhere; and all the gas going in will need to meet the correct specifications. It does sound like what @Formatted says above though, that the AD plant is getting their customers to pay for the grid connection.

I’ll not be getting connected as I’m half mile from village getting the pipe line .