Largest food AD plant in Wales comes online

The largest food waste anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Wales is now live with the potential to power all of the homes in one of the UK's smallest cities.


Biogen’s Waen AD plant situated on the site of a former abattoir in Denbighshire. The plant is able to recycle up to 22,500 tonnes of food waste every year, generating 1MW of renewable electricity for the national grid – the equivalent power needed for the nearby city of St Asaph.

“We are delighted that construction of the plant was completed on time and within budget,” said Biogen’s chief executive Julian O’Neill.

“We’re very happy to be working in partnership with Denbighshire County Council, Conwy County Borough Council and Flintshire County Council to help the authorities, and Wales as a whole, lead the way in recycling food waste to create green energy.

“The Waen plant and our other projects in Wales and in England are making a significant contribution to the target of meeting 15 per cent of the UK’s energy demand through renewable sources by 2020.”

As part of Biogen’s closed loop processes, the AD plant will also produce a valuable bio-fertiliser to be supplied for use on nearby farmland, ensuring what started on the farm ends on the farm.

Denbighshire County Council’s waste operations manager Sam Bates added: “We are very proud of the AD plant and also pleased that residents across the three counties will have access to the scheme. We’ll be encouraging householders to make full use of the kitchen caddies with the knowledge that their food waste is being put to such good use to create renewable energy.” 

The Waen AD plant is the company’s fourth operational plant in the UK, bringing the total amount of waste processed across all Biogen sites to more than 150,000 tonnes per year.

Luke Nicholls

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