Proper Green Newsletter Response

Through misinformation and assumption a number of concerned local residents have circulated incorrect information under the well intentioned  association ‘Proper Green’. They are to be commended for their aims but need to be in possession of the facts before making unfair accusations.

Below are extracts from a recent `Proper Green` newsletter which is incorrect in the information set out. Alongside this is the correct information.

TIVERTON ENERGY CENTRE. Winston Reed response.

The correct information can be seen set out in RED below: -

P.G.= Proper Green statement
W.R.= Winston Reed’s answer

IS WHAT GREENER FOR LIFE PROPOSES TO DEVELOP AT GIBBET MOOR FARM RACKENFORD THE RIGHT ENERGY IN THE RIGHT PLACE?

P.G.     .WHERE IS GIBBET MOOR AND WHAT IS GREENER FOR LIFE
Gibbet Moor Farm comprises 60 acres. 6 miles from Tiverton. It lies on the side of the Old Tiverton to Rackenford road and adjacent to the A361North Devon Link Road. It has recently been purchased by Winston Reed who farms at Cleave Farm, Templeton. Cleave Farm, although small, is home to a very substantial dairy herd of some 1000 cows who spend much of their life housed. He has about 200 more cows at Edgeworthy Farm Nomansland living in similar conditions. He has acute problems of slurry disposal.

W.R. Winston Reed actually farms 2500 acres in all, the bulk of which is linked to Cleave Farm near Templeton where about 900 cows are milked. Cleave Farm itself has less than 100 acres of grass but cows are let out to this every night. By day the cows are fed a complete diet around the housing and open yards. It is the policy that all cows have access to grass every day during the grazing season.
The 250 cows at Edgeworthy Farm near Nomansland spend all summer at grass and are only housed for a short winter period.

Slurry from the animals is a very valuable resource and forms part of the farms nutrient plan. The quantities produced are managed within the current Nitrogen Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) requirements and save tonnes of artificial fertiliser being used. Even after AD digestion the nutrients are still available in a form that is safer to the environment, is more readily available to growing crops and will continue to be part of the farms nutrient plan.

P.G.    He is the founder of the business, Greener for Life, and Managing director of Greener for Life Marketing Ltd. Greener for Life intends to transform Gibbet Moor into the “Tiverton Energy Centre”, a £26 million industrial development on a green field site. The development is planned in three phases.

Greener for Life has mounted a highly effective campaign to publicise these plans in the press and on the website. See an attached extract showing the proposed completed plan for all Phases 1- 3.

W.R.     The original plan was for a 3 phase development costing in the region of £25 million but the economic climate, the renewable energy requirements and planning controls / public opinion will determine whether, if and when further phases are built.

Phase 1. the AD plant will be the first construction at Gibbet Moor Farm and will be an ABP (Animal By-Product) plant which means it can take in food waste containing meat. The electricity output from the AD plant alone would be capable of supplying between 3500 and 5500 house depending on eventual size. The 10,000 house estimate included output from further phases when and if built. Economics and market potential will determine actual electrical output as Biomethane gas road fuel also offers good business opportunities and great sustainable environmental benefits.

P.G.     Winston Reed already has planning permission for Gibbet Moor Farm for change of use from agriculture to milk distribution depot. He recently started preparing the site for the depot. Work has been brought to a halt because he failed to comply with a number of conditions imposed by Mid Devon Council that had to be fulfilled before the development began. The Phase 1 site plan for the ABD plant state “New milk transfer area identified” but is unclear where it is. It is not shown on the Phase 3 site plan refereed to above. It seems to be cheek by jowl with the ABD plant and to share the same entrance.

W.R.     Planning permission has been granted for development of a milk reloading centre at Gibbet Moor subject to certain requirements. These included alteration to the A361 road junction for which we have been waiting for the lawyers to conclude since November 2007!
Work started on the second requirement for an archaeological survey due to the close proximity of an ancient burial mound; hedges and trenches were examined as per requirements and top soil was removed from the area.
Work stopped at this point and we are still waiting for Highways dept. and Lawyers to conclude their part!

ANAEROBIC DIGESTERS

P.G.     ABDs convert slurry, food and abattoir waste products, crops and vegetation into methane by natural bacterial action. The methane so produced can be used to fuel turbines and produce electricity. The end product or digestate can be used as fertiliser.
In Europe ABDs have been used extensively for many years and there is widespread accumulated expertise in building and running them. The reasons for their use and the phasing out of landfill sites is compelling. They are not free from difficulty however. Slurry, having been digested by the cows first, is not an efficient source of methane: waste foods and other animal products can generate as much as eight times as much methane per tonne as slurry. The maximum efficient input of slurry into and ABD is 30%. The ABD at Holsworthy has recently applied for planning permission to abandon the use of slurry altogether. Here Winston Reed intends to pipe slurry from Cleave to Gibbet. If slurry input at Gibbet is 30% it is highly unlikely that the plant will be commercially viable.

W.R.     Slurry, though a lower yielder of methane than other wastes, will form approx 30% of the total inputs at TEC. Unlike Holsworthy AD plant however, the slurry will be pumped to the TEC site rather than hauled as has been done there, reducing costs by as much as 8 times. If hauled by road this would cause major traffic and road damage issues, it is a very low dry matter material and the costs of doing this would be economic unviable.  Slurry is currently pumped underground to fields around Cleave Farm and associated land for spreading and has proved to be very cost effective. By extending this network to Gibbet Moor the same economies can be achieved.

P.G.     It is calculated that to generate enough electricity for 10,000 households would take 167,000 tonnes of waste per year. Assuming 30% or 50,100 tonnes is slurry and is piped, that leaves 116,900 tonnes to be transported to the site. 167,000 tonnes will have to be shipped out. Vehicle movements for 283,900 tonnes would therefore be needed (116,900 + 167,000).  Assuming 10 tonnes per load this would involve 28,390 vehicle movements. For an 8 hour working day, 300 days a year this would mean one vehicle movement every five minutes.

W.R.     It is not intended to power 10,000 housed just from the AD plant. The likely capacity of TEC AD plant will be 100,000 tonnes of waste from farm and off farm. Approximately 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes of waste will be brought by vehicle to the site, the vast majority of which will be in 20 and 29 tonne capacity lorries though some will be hauled with farm machinery. Buildings have been designed to allow unloading of these vehicles within them allowing containment of smells.
If the average vehicle size was only 15 tonnes then it would still only involve 4667 movements. For an 8 hour day and 300 days per year it would mean 2 vehicles per hour bringing in feedstock to the plant as worst case scenario. The AD process will breakdown some of the organic material resulting in a 10% reduction of feedstock leaving the plant as digestate fertiliser.  This material will be separated and concentrated into a dry and a liquid fraction, the bulk of the liquid then pumped back to the farm for fertilising grass. Because of this the volume of traffic removing the digestate will be low, likely to be no more than 4 vehicles a day assuming 15 tonnes capacity vehicles.

BIO FUELS AND THE MILK DEPOT

P.G.     There will in addition be bio fuels and other traffic in due course. The milk depot traffic, night and day will already be established. The milk depot will not only create difficulty from a traffic point of view: it is difficult to see how it sits easily with the transport and unloading of abattoir waste and sewage sludge which Greener for Life lists as inputs into the ABD. Pennymoor Timber Limited which is re-locating has an option to purchase the field adjoining Gibbet Moor and if the site is acquired their vehicles will add to the traffic congestion.

W.R.     Future development are uncertain at present with the food versus fuel debate raging but the milk reloading site will be isolated from the AD plant ensuring there are no risks of contamination as is required by legislation. Milk reloading traffic is also very low and poses no issues with regard to traffic flow as has been recognised by Traffic consultants. Other developments in the locality are the concern of Mid Devon Council and planning decisions will be made on their own merit and impact, they are not part of the TEC development.

INPUT AND OUTPUT

P.G.     It is unclear where the input tonnage, apart from the slurry, is coming from. Nor is it clear where the product is going to. Greener for Life’s publicity states, “By using waste products and agricultural crops from Tiverton and the surrounding area the Tiverton Energy Centre will produce electricity and fuels as well as fertiliser for growing local crops and food”. The large input tonnage of waste apart from slurry is unlikely to be resourced locally: much will have to be transported across Devon for long distances. Likewise it is unclear what the local market is for the digestate produced. Digestate has to be spread close to the plant on suitable land. The area around Gibbet Moor is not predominantly arable country suitable for digestate.

W.R.     Other input material will be sourced locally as to haul great distances would negate any of the benefits. Digestate will be pumped back to Reed Farms land for fertiliser replacement along with concentrated digestate being used on local land for grass and arable crops. Once concentrated it is financially and environmentally viable to transport greater distances though this is not the intention. The area of land surrounding Gibbet Moor Farm is both grass and arable cropping land which is  well suited for digestate fertiliser spreading.

P.G.     The Greener for Life proposals include the input of crops including wheat maize and rape seed to manufacture bio fuel. This is unlikely to be a viable proposition in the light of recent history of grain shortages and spiralling feed prices. Proper Green here concentrates on the problems raised by the ABD but the manufacture of bio fuels, hydrogen fuel and the erection of wind turbines will have to be addressed in detail later.

W.R.     TEC intend to use waste and a small amount of grass in the AD plant. Grass will be grown on local land using digestate fertiliser and will thus be totally sustainable biomass. Biomass for further phases will be assessed at a later date but by using digestate fertiliser to grow them also makes them sustainable.

TEC  OUTPUT

P.G.     The electricity generated will need to be taken to the grid, presumably at Tiverton, by pylons or otherwise. No information is available on this point. Nor is there any information on the crucial question of cost of this supply to the consumer. It is well known that electricity generated by wind turbines is more expensive than that generated by conventional means. What is the position here?

W.R.     It is planned for the electricity generated by TEC to be connected to Tiverton via an underground connection. 
Because AD plants operate at or near 95% efficiency they represent a better investment for renewable energy production and demand for this far exceeds supply. Currently there are many companies and retailers who will carry the cost of this renewable energy as part of their internal policy and enforced commitment for renewable energy use.
Though underdeveloped within the UK at present, there is a fast growing market for gas as a road fuel and it is likely that some of the biogas produced at TEC will be upgraded into Biomethane for private and commercial use.

P.G.     The publicity makes it appear the “Tiverton Energy Centre” is a “centre of excellence in the production of renewable electricity and fuel for the Tiverton community”. The ABD will produce “enough electricity to supply the equivalent of up to 10,000 Tiverton homes”. The picture of a self contained community supplying the materials for the ABD locally and consuming the electricity generated locally is a myth. Local supplies of materials for the ABD are inadequate and the electricity is supplied not to Tiverton households but to the grid generally.

W.R.     Public opinion and planning restrictions will determine the extent of the development and the eventual output of the site.
Supply of waste in the region also somewhat depends on local councils and their commitment to renewable energy and landfill disposal. Some authorities in East Devon do collect separated household waste at present but this is currently being transported to Holsworthy, a journey which unfortunately does negate a lot of the benefits.
Electricity does go straight into the grid and could effectively be used anywhere in the country but it does mean that the equivalent amount of electricity used by the number of Tiverton households has been generated from renewable sources. Because of high electricity grid transmission losses it is also far more efficient to generate electricity locally and then use it locally. The increased cost of that generation will be paid for by the specific companies wishing to purchase ‘green’ renewable electricity elsewhere in the country.

LOCATION

P.G.     Gibbet Moor is badly placed to accommodate the vast increase in traffic that this huge digester plant and other industries will create. The only two roads giving this access to the site are the old road from Tiverton to Rackenford and the A361 North Devon Link road. The old road is eminently unsuitable for quantities of large lorries, tractors and trailers. The North Devon Link road is already overcrowded and carries one vehicle every 2.85 seconds during business hours between April and October with peaks in July and August. The Stoneland Cross turning which leads to Gibbet Moor is notoriously dangerous. Lorries/tractors with trailers approaching it from Tiverton direction cannot negotiate it without swinging out onto the offside of the Link road.

W.R.     When considering the location for an Anaerobic Digestion plant the major considerations are: -

Gibbet Moor Farm fits the criteria well being located beside the A361, attached to the main farm supplying slurry, the land being essential as approximately 1000 acres of land for digestate spreading are required for every 1MW of output.
As detailed above, the number of vehicle movements is not high and should not have a major impact on the local road.
Before the TEC development can begin it is necessary to carry out a Traffic Impact assessment for the A361 and the old main road. Work has already been undertaken for this and though not concluded, it is thought the AD development will not contribute to an increased hazard on either road. It is likely that work will have to be carried out on the A361 entrance / exit to improve traffic flow.
Though a busy road especially during peak season, the increase in traffic is not thought to be a safety concern provided junction improvement are carried out.

AIMS OF PROPER GREEN

P.G.     PROPER GREEN will support the building on ABDs, particularly those on individual farms that can use the methane generated for heating and electrical; power.

W.R.     On farm AD plants, though an excellent idea, are unlikely to be economically viable for the reasons that Proper Green have stated.

P.G.     PROPER GREEN supports the establishment of larger ABDs which can supply electricity to the grid provided that the location is right, that connection to the grid can be accomplished without environmental damage to the landscape, and that the price to the consumer is right.

W.R.     GFL and TEC aim to establish this for the Gibbet Moor site. Feasibility work carried out which has been corroborated by county councils in other parts of the country demonstrate that the size and location of AD plants is critical.

P.G.     PROPER GREEN will work with the Devon Councils to find suitable sites for a range of ABDs in the right location for their size.

W.R.     GFL have been working with Government and with both the Local and County Councils from the outset of this planned development and they have given support for the development provided that it complies with the established planning process and the environmental requirements.

P.G.     PROPER GREEN believes that plans for a £26 mill ion development of and industrial site on a small North Devon farm is wholly at odds with the Green Energy cause and should be vigorously opposed.

W.R.     Proper Green has not made an effort to establish the true facts regarding the proposed TEC development and have therefore painted a totally untrue picture. The TEC development is not at odds with the drive for sustainable renewable energy and will not be to the detriment of the area or the environment.

Winston Reed is more than happy to explain the true facts about the development and extends an invitation to you and to Proper Green to Stoodleigh Parish Hall on Tuesday 2nd September to view a scaled model of the Gibbet Moor TEC development, to look at other supporting information and to discuss any queries or concerns that you may have.