Iona Capital has secured a deal with the Wensleydale Creamery in the UK to produce over 10,000 MWh of energy per year from whey. The new feedstock agreement has Iona's Leeming Biogas plant in North Yorkshire processing whey permeate from Wensleydale and turning it into nearly one million cubic metres of green gas. Using the anaerobic digestion process, the venture will in turn produce enough power to heat 800 homes per year. The Wensleydale Creamery, producer of Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese, makes 4,000 tonnes of cheese every year at its dairy in Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales. The agreement between Iona and Wensleydale is part of the development of Iona Capital's growing portfolio of assets in the North East, the fund manager says. Since 2011 Iona has managed funds on behalf of institutional pension funds and successfully invested these in long term projects within the UK bio-energy market. The fund manager has already established nine anaerobic digestion facilities across Yorkshire, investing £100 million (€ 109.5m) in the region, as well as opening its York office in June 2018. The renewable energy plants save the equivalent of 37,300 tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
展开▼
