By Anna Burdett

Last updated at 15:43, Friday, 09 March 2012

Britain's first uplands energy plant will be built this summer in the hills above Longtown.

The anaerobic digester will turn silage into enough electricity to power 120 homes and turn a £30,000 annual profit.

Low Luckens organic resource centre won a £400,000 grant to spearhead use of the technology and it is expected to blaze a trail for similar farms across the country.

Owner Mike Downham said: “We’ve been given the opportunity with this funding to see how it works. It’s a national demonstration project.”

If the digester is successful, it could present a viable diversification for struggling hill farms across the country, reducing their dependence on subsidies.

Planning permission for the 50-kilowatt machine was granted by Carlisle City Council in December and work will start next month.

Mr Downham, whose family runs the farm for community benefit, added: “There will be issues as to whether we’ll be able to cut sufficient quantities of silage.

“That will take several years to demonstrate.

“We’re hoping to make mistakes from which other uplands farms can learn.

“This is a realistic model that others could follow.

“We have faith in the technology, it’s down to whether we can apply it to a north of England upland farm.”

The farm’s suckler herd will be reduced from 40 to 20 cows and some of its 200 acres will be taken out of production and used to enhance bio-diversity as part of the project.

Digestate, a by-product from the plant, will be spread to increase silage productivity on the rest of the farm, while the heat generated will be piped to nearby polytunnels to increase vegetable production.

The digester is small-scale and the entire project will cost around £460,000, most of which is coming from the Rural Development Programme for England.

Evergreen Gas expects to start up the digester in September.

Bacteria inside the digester breaks down the silage, producing methane, which is burnt to heat water. Steam then runs a turbine to produce electricity.

Half the machine will be beneath ground and it will be fed once a day at the same time as the cows.

First published at 14:10, Friday, 09 March 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk