Wastewater treatment plant to heat 200 homes

A wastewater treatment plant in Oxfordshire will be used to heat up to 200 homes.

The Thames Water depot in Didcot is generating biomethane gas which it created by a sewage treatment process and is now being used to supply energy for houses in the area.

Speaking with the Herald Series, John Gilbert, Thames Water's spokesman for the £2.5 million project, said: "We're capturing methane, a by-product of the sewage treatment process, cleaning it to National Grid quality and providing the gas for residents to heat their homes."

He added that if the initiative - a joint venture between Thames Water, Scotia Gas Networks and British Gas - is repeated across the UK, the 9,600 sewage treatment plants could generate enough gas to heat 200,000 homes.

Chris Huhne, energy and climate change secretary, said that this is "just the start of a new era".

Last month, Thames Water revealed that a new wastewater treatment process is to extract phosphorous from sewage in order to create slow-release fertilisers for Britain's agricultural industry.

Posted by Claire Manning