Green Technology

“To truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy.”

BARACK OBAMA

Feb. 24, 2009

Solar 21 is an Irish renewable energy infrastructure company based close to Dublin with offices in Italy and the UK, where their assets are located.

It all started with solar. At a time when global governments began offering supports for the development of renewable energy technology, brothers Andrew and Michael Bradley built up a portfolio of commercial-size solar farms in Italy.

Solar 21 have niche knowledge in the pre-planning and development of biomass, biogas and Energy from Waste plants and are currently managing a number of projects through the development process, and they still have those photovoltaic solar plants.

Our experienced team is busy identifying opportunities, developing projects and managing stakeholders.

How is Biogas Produced?
Anaerobic digestion is a process that produces biogas, a high-energy gas made up of mainly methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (C02) from the breakdown of organic material in the absence of oxygen. To make it usable in the national gas pipeline, the biogas must undergo a purification process that removes other gases and impurities, turning it into what is called biomethane (a gas composed of 99% methane).

Woodmansey Business Park is host to Solar 21’s first anaerobic digestion project – Gascorp (Plaxton) Ltd. The plant will produce between 4 million and 5.4 million cubic metres of biomethane gas, enough for 3,700 homes from waste produced by our onsite potato processing factory – 4u Fresh Produce.

Project Status
The construction of this first anaerobic digestion (AD) plant is progressing well. We are delighted to announce that Northern Gas Networks confirmed the plant achieved ‘gas to grid’ status on January 27th 2020 and the EA Permit has also been issued. This follows an intense period of works led by Neil Wright, Solar 21’s on site Project Manager, coordinating the efforts of the primary contractors BTS Biogas and Ashcourt . The team will now focus on completion of remaining site works by civils contractor, Ashcourt, and on ramping up to full operation and performance over the coming months. Operations and Maintenance will be contracted to the primary contractor BTS Biogas.

Government-backed Revenue
The RHI is part of the UK government’s clean energy strategy, designed to stimulate the development and growth of renewable heat technologies. Under the proposed scheme, the UK government will pay an index-linked incentive, guaranteed for a period of 20 years, for the heat and energy produced.