Although there are other similar plants close to finishing, the Didcot project which cost £2.5 million and took 6 months to complete (source new energy focus), was the first to be pumping gas derived from human sewage into the gas grid which supplies nearby homes in Didcot.
The process of extracting gas from sewage is called anaerobic digestion - bacteria break down the warmed up sludge, the resulting biogas is extracted during which impurities are removed, before it is fed into the mains grid.
The whole process from 'flush' to 'supply' takes around 20 days and apparently, gas consumers won't notice a difference.
However, the industry is counting on the introduction of renewable heat incentives before investors commit to more and news on that is expected tomorrow in the Governments spending review announcement.
Presumable though, the burnt gas is still a cause of co2?
photo credit: jason meredith
