Providing renewable gas and electricity to Exeter since 2015.
Our Background
Gorst Energy is an anaerobic digestion (AD) facility located in Clyst St Mary, on the outskirts of Exeter. We process agricultural feedstocks supplied by local farmers, primarily pig manure and sustainably grown crops. Using high-quality AD technology, the feedstock is broken down to produce biogas and digestate:
- The biogas is used to either generate and export renewable electricity to the National Grid, or upgraded and injected directly into the UK’s gas network. This green electricity and gas directly supplies local homes and businesses surrounding our Gorst Energy plant.
- The digestate is high in nutrients and a good replacement for artificial fertilisers. It is used on all of the land that grows feedstock crops for our AD plants, reducing costs for farmers as well as decreasing their carbon footprint.
How we are helping Exeter and East Devon
Gorst Energy currently provides enough renewable gas to power 2,389 homes and renewable electricity to power 934 homes. This makes us one of the biggest renewable energy generators in the city of Exeter, something we are very proud of.
Number of Exeter and East Devon homes powered by our gas this year
Investment in the local economy per year (£)
Number of Exeter and East Devon homes powered by our electricity this year
We’d like to do more
Our facility has the potential to contribute a lot more locally produced green energy by increasing the range of feedstocks available – we’re currently unable to make the best of our potential because of the limited quantity and types of feedstock (ingredients mixed in the process to produce the renewable energy) that we’re allowed to bring to the plant.
We would like to change this and have submitted a planning application that seeks to increase the tonnage and variety of feedstocks we are able to process.
This would enable us to further improve our sustainable output, in line with County and National policies targeted at increasing the production of renewable energy from waste. If successful, we can increase the supply of renewable electricity to 1,570 homes and renewable gas to 3,538.
| Existing AD plant | With proposed development (cumulative) | % increase | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual output gas (kW) | 32,488,650 | 48,120,870 | |
| Average no. of homes supplied | 2,389 | 3,538 | 48% |
| Annual electricity output (kW) | 3,363,840 | 5,650,200 | |
| Average no. of homes supplied | 934 | 1,570 | 68% |
Working with local farmers
“One of the advantages of working with Ixora, particularly for arable farmers, is that we can use maize as a break crop. This still enables us to grow our primary commercial crops like wheat and rape…another huge benefit is that the digestate saves us having to use artificial fertilisers and using an organic material instead (digestate) which is a far better replacement and we are getting better crops because of this.”
– Troy Stuart, Farmer supplying sustainable crops to Gorst Energy
Proud sponsors of Exeter Athletic RFC
“I’m delighted to be a part of such a strong local community both inside and outside of work. Ixora really is committed to promoting positive change across a range of causes and I’m proud to be a part of that”.
– Chris Jenkins, Regional Manager at Ixora and member of the club’s first team
Want to find out more?
We welcome visits throughout the year, simply get in touch to book in an AD site tour.