Anaerobic digestion in the Midlands

Project overview

The Midlands Net Zero Hub is working to help local authorities across the Midlands to better understand the role of anaerobic digestion (AD) in renewable energy generation and organic waste management.

The Hub appointed environmental consultancy Walker Resource Management (WRM) to develop strategy and project feasibility work, beginning with a briefing report that outlined the opportunities to strengthen AD’s contribution to the region’s energy mix and future circular economy approach.

WRM then went on to collaborate with five Midlands local authorities to develop tailored AD feasibility studies:

Herefordshire
Lincolnshire
Nottinghamshire
Walsall
Worcestershire

Anaerobic digestion potential study: Briefing paper

This report provides an initial assessment of the opportunities for expanding AD infrastructure, improving the processing of organic wastes, and contributing to the region’s renewable energy mix and circular economy.

A core ambition of the Midlands Net Zero Hub is to build local authority capability in the AD field, enabling more informed decisions about waste‑to‑energy investment to reduce emissions, create value from waste, and support local energy resilience.

The briefing paper forms the foundation for subsequent feasibility studies undertaken across five Midlands local authority areas, aimed at identifying viable AD projects with environmental and economic benefits for the region.

MNZH: Anaerobic digestion feasibility summary report

This report evaluates the potential for anaerobic digestion (AD) infrastructure across the five Midlands local authority areas. It assesses feedstock availability, planning and permitting constraints, economic performance, and commercial risks to identify which sites and configurations could support viable AD development.

Some of its key findings include:

Strong policy drivers: In 2025–2026, mandatory household and business food‑waste collections will significantly increase feedstock availability, supporting AD as the preferred treatment route for unavoidable food waste.
Substantial feedstock potential: Across the five authorities, available feedstock totals 355,000 tonnes per year, with household food waste comprising around 40% of the mix.
Reference plant designs: Five AD plant configurations were modelled, using both wet and dry systems, sized between 30,000–85,000 tonnes per year depending on local feedstock and site constraints.
Planning and permitting challenges: No site fully meets standard receptor distances, meaning each will require a bespoke permit plus mitigation for noise, odour, and ecological impacts.
Techno‑economic performance: The most commercially favourable scenario is 100% biomethane injection to grid under the GGSS, producing 206,056 MWh annually – enough for ~19,200 homes.
Alternative pathways remain viable: Blending biomethane for Bio‑CNG can also yield positive returns for most sites.
Key risks: Feedstock security, site constraints, and grid capacity were the most significant risks identified, though all can be mitigated through early planning and partnership engagement.

The Midlands Net Zero Hub’s resource page also includes the separate feasibility briefing notes that were produced by WRM for each of the five local authorities.