At Greendale We're Turning Poo into Power

Here's how…

Scroll to explore

In the Heart of Devon

We power our businesses with renewable energy from cow poo. The magic happens inside our Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Plant

What is an AD Plant?

It's a special building where organic matter, like poo, is recycled into renewable energy and natural fertiliser. Poo becomes power!

It’s Like
a Stomach!

To produce good, reliable renewable energy, the plant needs a carefully balanced diet, just like you!

FIBREWATERCARBS
divider brush
Take a quiz

Can you guess what we use to feed our AD Plant?

Hint: There are only three correct answers

Wood

Wood

Not quite!

Wood takes too long to break down – it’s not good ‘food’ for the AD plant

Cow Poo

Cow Poo

Correct!

This is high in carbohydrates and fibre, crucial ingredients for the AD plant

Crops

Crops

Correct!

Maize, oats, wheat and barley are valuable sources of fibre and carbohydrates, especially starch

Food Waste

Food Waste

Not quite!

Food waste can vary quite a lot, making it difficult to keep the AD process stable – it can also contain harmful bacteria

Water

Water

Correct!

Like humans, the AD plant needs water to work properly. Luckily we have lots of rain here in East Devon!

Energy Drinks

Energy Drinks

Not quite!

Like you, the AD plant needs a well-balanced diet – energy drinks contain too much sugar and caffeine for it to work properly

divider brush
Super Food

Super Smoothie

Using ingredients collected from our farm, we make a special 'smoothie' for our AD plant.

COW POO

50 Tonnes
of poo per day

We collect all the poo from our cows, as well as their used bedding straw

ARABLE CROPS

1520 acres
of arable crops grown,

We grow 640 acres for the AD plant – the cows eat the rest

RAINWATER

500 Tonnes
of stored water

We collect water from the roofs of our farm buildings and store it

50%

POO

40%

CROPS

10%

WATER

Underground Panel 1

The super smoothie is pumped underground to the digestion chamber

Underground Panel 2

Like us, the AD plant needs to be fed at regular intervals to ensure a constant supply of energy.

Underground Panel 3

Regular feeding keeps the AD Plant running at peak performance, day and night

Inside the
Chamber

Now the clever bit...

The super smoothie goes into the digestion chamber, where the AD plant breaks down its 'food'

It's dark, hot
and airless

The perfect habitat for millions of bacteria to get to work, breaking down the organic matter.

This is called anaerobic digestion, because there's no oxygen present

These hard-working bacteria need to be monitored to make sure they're happy and healthy

Every hour, the bacteria produce 500m3 of biogas (mostly methane) and 3.5 tonnes of solid, called 'digestate'

The digestate is either re-used as part of the super smoothie, or turned into fertiliser for our crops, or compost for sale

The biogas is piped to the cogeneration unit, where it's used to generate electricity

Super Speedy!

Smoothie added in the morning can produce biogas by the afternoon!

Biogas is one of the best sustainable fuels because it's easy to store and ready to be used whenever needed

The Cogeneration Unit

WHERE POO BECOMES POWER

The cogeneration unit houses two large engines and two turbines; it's powered by the biogas piped in from the AD chamber

Press
to start

The biogas fuels the engines, which makes the turbines turn and generates electricity

Dizzy! The turbines rotate 2,800 times per minute!

Sustainable Loop

We re-use the heat to maintain the right temperature inside the digestion chamber - we use it to dry the digestate.

ELECTRICITY

1.3mW per hour

Enough to power 30 Electric vehicles per hour or 130,000 lightbulbs!

HEAT

90°C / 194°F

That's hot!

100% of the electricity from our AD plant is used to power our businesses

Greendale Farm Shop

Greendale Business Park

EV Charging

Greendale Farming

Willowglen Renewables