Dunsfold Park Digests Plant Consent

Wednesday, 06 February 2013

Dunsfold Park Ltd was delighted today (Wednesday 6 February) when Surrey County Council Planning & Regulatory Committee granted planning consent for an Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Plant, submitted by the Aerodrome's chosen partner, Bio Group Ltd.

Recommended for approval by the Officers, it was given the green light by members on its planning merits at the 10am meeting.

Jim McAllister, Chief Executive of Dunsfold Park Ltd, comments:
"We are delighted by the approval, which is another significant step forward in our renewable energy ambitions. It is our intention to acquire a sufficient supply of the gas produced by the plant to generate electricity for Dunsfold Park's tenants at night, complimenting our existing successful solar farm, which is currently supplying electricity to businesses during the day. We believe that this will make Dunsfold Park the only Business Park in the UK to be supplied entirely by renewable energy, and once again highlights Dunsfold, the Borough of Waverley and the County of Surrey's prominence at the forefront of renewable energy technologies."

Located on a low-grade agricultural field owned by Dunsfold Park Ltd, adjacent to the Aerodrome and with connections to the national grid for both gas and electricity, the plant will be supplied by food waste from within a 15km radius – food waste which currently has to travel to AD facilities up to 80kms away. The scheme will generate 10 vehicle movements a day in and out, which equates to 0.02% of the existing traffic on Stovolds Hill.

The AD plant has been designed to be installed underground to create a more visually acceptable form of development and will use tanks of indestructible plastic, bunded to 150% of the content so, in the unlikely event of any leakage, it would be contained. Operating under license from the Environment Agency, the Agency will monitor the Plant throughout its operational life.

A proposed reception building and visitor centre for educational purposes, in keeping with the surrounding area, will be sympathetically landscaped to improve the existing outlook. Development of the plant will begin in the very near future.

Dunsfold Park already has a two megawatt Solar Farm that has been supplying energy to the businesses on the Aerodrome since June 2012.