A power plant fuelled by farm waste, manure and maize opened in Nottinghamshire yesterday.

The new plant – built on a 2,500-acre family farm itself – uses anaerobic digestion (AD) to break the fuel into a biogas and then burns that to generate electricity.

Developers say it is the UK’s largest on-farm AD facility to date at 3MW.

It’s a joint project between Tamar Energy and Sutton Grange Anaerobic Digestion, a company established by farmer Fred Walter and Mark Paulson.

Greg Barker MP, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change said: “Energy from waste is an essential part of the energy mix, it’s a win-win – helping to drive low carbon energy and helping reduce bills for hardworking consumers.”

Alan Lovell, Chairman of Tamar Energy said: “Having Greg Barker here to officially open our first Midlands facility is a clear sign of the government’s commitment to supporting AD. It recognises the obvious benefits that the technology can bring to the UK’s renewable energy mix”.

Critics of biogas say subsidies aren’t high enough for it to simply use waste and so it must use crops on land which could otherwise grow food.