By Chris Story

Last updated at 14:55, Friday, 22 June 2012

A farmer hopes a multi-million pound power plant will turn muck into money – earning up to £700,000-a-year.

Farmer Alistair Wannop, right, with Nick Austin, of Clydesdale Bank.

An anaerobic digester is now fully operational at Alistair Wannop’s Linstock Castle Farm at Linstock, near Carlisle. The plant, which turns maize silage, manure and cow slurry into electricity, took a year to build.

It is the latest in a series of the renewable energy schemes to be built or in the pipeline across north Cumbria. The most notable other is at Dryholme Farm, near Silloth.

Work was made possible by a £2.8 million cash package from a bank – viewed as a major economic achievement at a time when financial institutions are reluctant to lend.

Mr Wannop, who runs the G Wannop & Son enterprise with his wife Julie, hopes it is an investment that will pay off lucratively with the power it produces sold to the National Grid.

He said: “Building an anaerobic digester to generate more revenue for the farm has been on our agenda for about three years, so we are thrilled to see it come to fruition.

“The new power scheme, which transforms farm waste into electricity, will be a key source of income for the business, and also a sustainable one. We are hopeful that the farm will reap the benefits of this new technology for generations to come.”

The digester was designed by a German renewable energy company and built by Carlisle-based Border Construction. It is 42 metres in diameter, six metres in depth and housed in a concrete container.

Linstock Castle, a 1,000-acre dairy and arable business, has been in the Wannop family since the turn of the 20th century.

Mr Wannop is one of north Cumbria’s most prominent farmers as a former chairman of the NFU in the county and a board member of Carlisle-based Carrs Milling. He and his wife also own Eden Golf Club.

Backing for their power scheme has come from Clydesdale Bank through its Investing for Growth Strategy, a scheme to help successful businesses develop.

Mr Wannop said: “In recent years we have made a number of moves to diversify our offerings in order to remain competitive.

“The leisure side of our business, which consists of Eden Golf Club and our permanent marquee, is performing extremely well, and we are hopeful that our renewable energy device will do the same.”

Nick Austin, agribusiness partner at Clydesdale Bank’s Carlisle Financial Solutions Centre, said: “The business is eager to diversify revenue streams to operate more sustainably over the long term.”

First published at 14:08, Friday, 22 June 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk