Farmgen plans second plant in Cumbria

GREEN energy firm Farmgen has revealed plans for its second £3m power generating plant in Cumbria.

The company, which has embarked on a £30m investment drive nationwide, has applied to Carlisle City Council for permission to create the farm-based anaerobic digestion (AD) plant at Murray House Farm in Cumwhinton.

It is working with Peter Bainbridge and his father, Peter, who both farm at Murray House. The application has been submitted to build a plant that can generate up to 1.2MW of electricity.

Crops to supply the £3m plant would be supplied by the Bainbridges, who organise the annual Cumwhinton horse trials, and neighbouring farmers.

Building work has already started on Farmgen’s first £3m AD plant in Cumbria at Dryholme Farm, near Silloth. Once in operation the two plants will each generate enough continuous power for more than 1,000 homes. It also has a farm-based plant at Warton, Lancashire.

Farmgen’s chief operating officer Ed Cattigan said: “The application we have submitted for Murray House underlines our great belief in the huge potential that exists for farm-based AD in Cumbria.

“As the country moves over to ‘green’ energy, as part of the drive towards a low carbon economy, there is a strong opportunity for many farmers across the county to create a sustainable and stronger future for themselves by switching to ‘energy farming’.

“We are in talks with a number of other farming operations across Cumbria and in other parts of the UK to create similar plants and we are hoping to reveal more planned sites in the very near future.”

Farmgen was founded in 2009 by Simon Rigby, former chief executive of Leeds-based utilities company Spice plc. Mr Rigby stepped down from his role at Spice in February but retained a 9% stake that was valued at £22m when private equity firm Cinven agreed its £250m takeover in September.

*Farmgen has organised an open day at Murray House Farm on Thursday February 17, between 11am and 3pm. For more details call 01253 600 800.