The historic and picturesque Devon town of South Molton seems an unlikely place to be one of the UK’s green energy pioneers.

Yet South Molton, sometimes described as “the gateway to Exmoor”, is also now a gateway to the future, being one of the few communities in Britain that gets nearly 100% of its gas from renewable green gas (“biomethane gas” made from local food production by-products and animal waste), rather than natural gas.

The problem with natural gas

In 2022 everyone knows the environmental damage caused by natural gas, yet the UK is hooked on it!  It is a fossil fuel pumped from deep underground, and one of the biggest contributors to the warming of our planet. Currently, natural gas is very expensive, especially as Russia is the biggest supplier to much of the EU. Global energy prices are rising even more as these EU countries try to source supplies elsewhere.

Natural gas is not only used in homes and manufacturing, it generates much of our electricity too. So, switching from gas to electricity at home will not stop the burning of natural gas because it fuels most power stations.

Why South Molton is different

In South Molton, their energy use is a different story.

There, the gas used for cooking and heating now comes from ENGIE UK’s local green gas plant, which uses local food production by-products and animal waste to produce renewable energy.

The process is particularly environmentally friendly as it recycles carbon that is already in circulation (compared to natural gas, which constantly adds more to the environment), while the “digestate” that is left over at the end is used by local farmers as fertiliser. Furthermore, the gas is made locally, not carried around the world in tankers and pipelines.

This map shows South Molton and nearby areas are now almost 100% towards utilising renewable and eco-friendly green gas from ENGIE UK’s local Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility.

 

ENGIE UK in South Molton

Our anaerobic digestion (AD) facility near South Molton opened in 2015 and its output has grown since then to such an extent that we are now supplying almost all the gas needs of 2,389 nearby homes and also generating enough electricity for 934 homes (the plant was featured in a recent BBC Spotlight South West feature). Now, homes as far as Barnstaple use some of our gas.

This map shows areas around Barnstaple using renewable and eco-friendly green gas from ENGIE UK’s South Moulton Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility.

The future of AD

Currently less than 1% of gas in the UK comes from AD plants, in comparison to leading nations such as Denmark, which alone generates 26% of its gas from AD.

With large multi-billion-pound investments in nuclear power stations recently announced, which will take decades to produce energy, it seems surprising that the UK government is not making more effort to increase local green gas facilities like South Molton’s.

After all, AD plants can be introduced quickly, use waste that would otherwise get transported to landfill and, unlike solar and wind power, keep producing power at nightime and during still days.

The local gas production means that whatever problems befall the international supply of gas over the coming decades, South Molton residents will still have gas!

Find out more: https://ixoraenergy.co.uk/condate-biogas/