pigs and cows. Make money from selling (green) electricity Increase arable returns (increase gross output /Ha, reduce purchased fert, improve rotation) Digestate is better than neat slurries / manures Will have surplus heat Reduce cost of some electricity into the business Reduce livestock smells to our neighbours
Chicken litter from 4 broiler houses FYM from 100 suckler cows = gas yield of about 130kW/hr (hoped for 200) 2000t +Maize and grass silage electricity sales of £300k+ PA Plus a hot house + hot whatever else.. Digestate = fert savings on arable
<4hrs /day additional labour but reality is full time to get the most out if it. Cost (Major help by RDPE grant.) and returns. There is no certainty that it will work. Most do and alot really well. But some don’t! Returns with wheat at £200/t are not good.
build cost, security of feed stock and transport issues locally. Better potential returns. The aim must be to be in control as much as possible. Animal manures (good / own supply) “free” (130kW/hr = £175k PA electric) Energy crops (grass and maize silage) should be a good return for arable, good for rotation. However a bad harvest = bad for AD as well and cost of feedstock goes up. Current returns not good with wheat at £200/t
pre 2011 100ha of wheat may return output < £120,000 100ha of maize should produce about £220,000 of electric. (the extra £100k+ is not all profit; has to cover AD and arable extra overheads) Cost maize against breakcrops not wheat. OSR returns max £1100/ha or £110,000 / 100Ha
different if maize is to return the same to the arable as other crops and it becomes expensive for AD. Harvest yields have been low, perhaps more for maize than other crops. As importantly the following crop drilling has been much worse for maize. Result is the cost of maize into AD is significantly increased and makes AD on energy crops look iffy. Still good advantages for rotation / digestate.
but could have been horrible if the other way! Site electrics way over budget (unexpected) Elect board connection 3 months late (expected) Ground works done in summer / dry. If turnkey, check you are getting the right / best equipment not the cheapest to suit quote. The same design input is needed from you if Turnkey or self build!
that you have to manage alot to be visible and accessible Turnkey not always as well thought out as you would expect. Have someone else look at the design layout and equipment choice. Running a plant is time consuming at best so getting the design and layout right is vital
ok. Silages have to be sufficient in quantity and quality. If either is lower than expected then the output will drop. That sounds very obvious but we are talking “farming” here, not energy production!!! CHP (touch wood) going well. Find the people who know what they are talking about not those who think they know! Hard work getting it going well and harder still to keep things going well. Always something “not quite right”
by when you start to build vs maize / energy crop planting season. Harvest quality and quantity vital. Good staff. Attention to detail absolutely vital. It is like an intensive livestock unit and needs constant effort.
stones we get in our bales and FYM! It is important that the feeding system is regular and consistent and stones don’t help! Poor grass yield yr 1. Weather! Poor maize yield yr 2. Weather! Mixer failures resulted in 3 months of below budget output and above budget costs in yr 2 Hours required. Definitely more than we expected. Costs in are too high, returns are capped so 100% output vital
CHP ok thus far. Gas cleaning a very good expense that many questioned. Heat to house 100% success. Separator. No crust in lagoons now and adds income if you don’t need the P & K. Crops do look very good on digestate.
Not sure when capacity will be reached. Farm based will struggle until more support for farm waste based projects and the price of wheat falls! Some good UK turnkey companies now Some German companies now have good UK support and UK staff are getting some experience EA and planners not making things easy at start or for any chances that may occur.
FIT’s both “grandfathered”…. But not…? Far too much indecision and too risky for major investment. Even with a closed nutrient loop it is still food vs fuel Politicians will argue is it a true renewable fuel? FYM makes it look better, premium in Germany but not UK. HMG not convincing in their support and too likely to change their minds in general….? Food waste recycling via AD is great but in Germany there came a time (quite quickly) when there were more plants than food waste and inputs became a cost not an income stream. Size is important (1MW+) but costs to get there will prevent most from doing it.
yield / tonne of feedstock. Aim to return to 1.5kW / kg oDM from current 1.1kW due to a mixing problem. Reduce our electric parasitic load Increase reliability of equipment to reduce labour requirement. Find a use for heat and elect by developing the whole site. Future is not bright without an income from heat. Spend less and make more elect. More difficult than it appears.
“busy” 24/7 business The returns are OK at best in our farm system. As an addition to a pig / poultry / dairy + arable unit it can be a good fit. If you have a large electricity need it is much better. If you have a big house nearby your wife may accept the long hours as she will at least be warm! You MUST use heat to make it long term viable.
print money. It takes over your life, it can be hard work, the wrong kit can cost you all your profit and feed stocks can be expensive. Would I build an Ad plant on borrowed money and using just maize silage? Definitely NOT. Would I if I had a use for the heat and 50%+ of the electricity, the necessary arable land to grow the crops and use digestate, and I liked a risk and hard work then YES.
Make money from selling (green) electricity Increase arable returns (increase gross output /Ha, reduce purchased fert, improve rotation) Digestate better than neat slurries / manures Use surplus heat Reduce cost of some electricity into the business Reduce livestock smells
cows. NO pigs any more and cow FYM too many stones Make money from selling (green) electricity Struggling to do that but just about paying the bank! Increase arable returns (increase gross output /Ha, reduce purchased fert, improve rotation) Looked good until maize crop in November 2012. To be fair the wheat output was not all that it is on paper. Have reduced fert cost and improved rotation (ish)
YES. Crops looked good last year before all the rain Use surplus heat House now lovely but otherwise failed thus far Reduce cost of some electricity into the business Pig unit on site now closed down… Reduce livestock smells Yes. Definitely. Almost smells nice now!
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