- Ofgem ‘Redress’ funding awarded for trial of two specialised generators
- Trial aims to produce low-cost, clean electricity for social homes and businesses
- Supplying electricity in this way would be a first in both UK and EU
Severn Wye’s biochar plant in Warrington has been awarded £600k ‘Redress’ funding to install and trial two highly efficient generators that operate using a heat-exchange process known as Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC).
If successful, the plant could supply social homes and businesses with clean electricity at below market rates; a first in the UK and also the EU where biochar manufacturing is more established.
Because of the way it’s produced – through a process called pyrolysis – the electricity would be carbon negative. Pyrolysis involves baking material at high temperatures in low-oxygen conditions.
Project lead Simon Burgess explains:
‘We take wood chip and process it via pyrolysis to create a multi-purpose product called biochar. Because this locks away carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere as the wood rots down, the electricity we generate from the process will be carbon negative.
What’s exciting now is this opportunity to use heat generated by biochar production and turn it into carbon-negative electricity that could power some 300 homes. It could be a fantastic win-win for climate change and tackling fuel poverty, paving the way for biochar plants to adopt this approach.’
Severn Wye Biochar director Sandy Ruthven added:
‘During the first two years of the project we proved that enough biochar can be produced to lock away 2,400 tonnes of carbon a year. At this level of production, there is commercial potential to sell biochar and carbon credits.
This next phase of funding, allowing us to invest in this innovative ORC technology, could be another step change in our operations. Supplying affordable, carbon-negative electricity to homes would be a first in the UK as well as the EU where biochar manufacturing is more established.’
The ORC units are expected to be installed and commissioned by spring 2026 and the three-month trial will start soon after.
Redress is funded by energy suppliers that may have breached Ofgem rules and payments are distributed by the Energy Saving Trust to energy-related projects in England, Scotland and Wales.
