The biomethane plant is located in Nottinghamshire about 25 miles southeast of Sheffield and was BayWa r.e.’s first biomethane plant to be installed in the UK.
Co-developed with AcrEnergy Ltd. and EPC-packaged by BayWa r.e back in 2016, it has now been sold to the environmental infrastructure investment fund John Laing Environmental Assets Group Limited (JLEN).
The plant deploys the most modern technology in Europe and has been operating at full capacity after successfully managing its ramp-up. With RHI certification (Renewable Heat Incentive), it benefits from several fixed inflation-adjusted subsidies over 20 years. Every year, some 40,000 tonnes, mostly agricultural residual materials, are fermented and processed into biomethane. The maximum gas supply capacity is approx. 500 Nm³/h.
“We are glad to announce the sale of the Sherwood biomethane plant to such an environmentally oriented company as JLEN”, comments Matthias Taft, Board member of BayWa AG. “With the sale of the plant, we also demonstrate our strong commitment to the project and service business in the bioenergy sector.”
Chris Holmes, Director of John Laing Capital Management and co-lead adviser to JLEN adds: “We are delighted to transact for the first time with BayWa r.e. and hope to build on a promising relationship. The Sherwood biomethane plant will be the 6th anaerobic digestion asset that JLEN has invested in as it seeks to continue to grow its portfolio in this exciting sector. The plant has been developed to a high standard and is set to bring significant environmental benefits over its lifetime – the equivalent of removing 1,800 diesel cars from UK roads and offsetting annually over 6,250 tCO2e through the use of the digestate as a fertiliser.”
Christian Bracklow, Managing Director of BayWa r.e. Bioenergy GmbH adds: “Acting in a region where coal mining used to be a major driver of employment, project Sherwood involves collaboration with a substantial number of local farmers and it creates new jobs, which continues the region’s heritage in energy production. Thanks to the high quality standards and durability of modern construction, the plant will also help support the energy transition in the UK, as the power sector becomes increasingly volatile.”
“With the sale of the plant, we will focus again on developing new greenfield, reengineering and EPC projects. We will also further upgrade our service products, focused around operation and feedstock management, which will include new IT solutions.”
