Anglian seeks to maximise value of biogas in 2030 push

Anglian Water has set out a twin-track approach to reaching net-zero emissions by 2030, including a “stretch” pathway that shows what could be achieved with additional funding and policy levers.

Chief executive Peter Simpson stressed that even the company’s baseline routemap relies on solutions being found in hard to decarbonise areas such as HGVs.

The company’s decarbonisation strategy sets out a target pathway that would reduce emissions by 74 per cent from the 2018/19 baseline. This would leave 91,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) per year to be offset. Meanwhile, the stretch pathway would see 84 per cent of emissions cut, leaving 57,500tCO2e to offset.

The plan sets out a vision to “maximise the value of biogas” by upgrading production to biomethane that can be exported to the grid, used as transport fuel or supplied to industry.

This would see the company continue to use its combined heat and power engines (CHP) until 2025 and then over the next five years switch 54 per cent of this generation capacity to biomethane production. That would provide 200 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year of biomethane injected to the gas grid.  Under the stretch pathway this 37 per cent of CHP generation capacity would have been switched to biomethane by 2025 with 99 per cent reached by 2030.

Anglian is also actively considering opportunities associated with hydrogen production from its bioresources assets for potential implementation post 2030.

The plan also sets out Anglian’s approach to process emissions, widely considered to be the most difficult area for the water sector to decarbonise. The company will install monitoring equipment at four large sites to improve understanding about the scale and location of process emissions. The outputs will be shared and reviewed alongside evidence from comparable studies, with a view to having a full plan in place to manage and reduce emissions by 2030.

The company will also seek to maximise energy efficiency and renewable energy generation and storage – by installing up to 240 GWhs of solar generation on and around its own sites and implementing energy efficiency measures reducing power demand by 58GWhs per year. It will procure REGO-backed electricity for the remaining grid requirements.

On transport, Anglian plans to replace 90 per cent of all small fleet vehicles with electric equivalents by 2030, gradually switching medium-sized vehicles to hydrogen or alternative fuels such as biomethane and changing 55 per cent of the company’s HGVs to using Liquefied Natural Gas.

It will also develop its offsetting strategy for residual emissions, prioritising “in-region offsets”, such as planting 50 hectares of woodland on its sites, exploring removal opportunities using wetlands, marshes and grasslands and working with landowners to develop land management schemes that avoid and remove emissions.

Simpson said: “Over a decade ago we had come to the realisation that we had a clear duty to tackle our emissions – not just because the water sector is generally one of the most power hungry, but because the rural nature and flat landscape of our region means we need even more energy than most to pump water to where it is needed.

“We all know it is more urgent than ever to try to undo – or at least put a stop to – the damage we are doing to our planet, and to adapt our assets to be fit for the future. The extremes of weather we are seeing, not just around the world, but here in our own back yard in the East of England, make it impossible to ignore the need to tackle our remaining emissions right now, in parallel with our efforts to be resilient to the changing climate which is already underway.

“So we are accelerating our progress to net zero and setting out the pathway that will get us there by 2030, based on our three-step hierarchy of reducing emissions, decarbonising our electricity supply and removing or offsetting our residual emissions. It won’t be easy – in fact it will be incredibly challenging and we don’t have all the answers. Finding and delivering them is going to take sustained and genuinely collaborative efforts throughout the coming years, not just from us but from our supply chain, our peers, from government and from regulators too.”